CCI Step Down Program is Bogus: we shall stop participating Monday, May 11, 2015

CCI Step Down Program is Bogus

May 7, 2015 [received June 18th]

by Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa

I have taken the position to shut down this fake SDP crap. So, all of Step 4, who have the most to lose, meaning, some of them are a couple of weeks away from completing their Step 4, and for some they are one, two, three, four months away from being on a mainline and for some of them it’s been 13, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 39 years since they last been in general population, and for Step 3 it ranges from 4 to 31 years.

We all agree that these latest types of 115s/RVR’s is just another way to keep us held in SHU or a means of bringing us back, once we make it out to the GP mainline and we’d rather take our stance now!!  So, you can start spreading this good news to Corcoran, New Folsom and Pelican Bay by radio, news articles and when family members travel to PBSP and the other two SHUs.

We shall stop participating Monday, May 11, 2015, indefinitely. We won’t be attending any CC hearings, directly dealing with Steps 3 and 4, nor shall we go to those group meetings, or do any more of those journals. Now, there are two groups for each Step 3 and 4, and that’s a total of 40 prisoners who would have been attending those group meetings weekly. This SDP cannot function without prisoners participating.

I need for you to share that Steps 3 and 4 prisoners will not continue to participate in the SDP that is corrupt and discriminatory against all SDP prisoners, and has been trying to provoke all of us to rebel, get angry and act out.

Our problems come from the Warden, Kim Holland; Chief Deputy Warden, J. Gutierrez; Chief Deputy Warden W. Sullivan; Capt. P. Metzers; IGI Lt. J. Tyree; R. Diaz; Deputy Director of Division of Adult Institutions, Sacramento office, M. Tann; former SDP Facilitator, B. Snider; CC-II at CCI, Ybarra; and all of these Tehachapi officials and the one Sacramento official who have knowledge that we as SHU/SDP prisoners have been denied our fundamental SHU rights; and as of two weeks ago we are being denied the use of a razor, or should I say, we have a choice to take a five (5) minute shower or take a (5) minute shave, but not both.

Now, 90% of all SDP privileges have been denied us from Jan. 2014 to May 2015. This is a failed program and all of the Heads of CDCr know what is going on here at Tehachapi, CCI.

Gov. Brown commits crimes against prisoners’ humanity for guards’ campaign contributions

Published in: SF Bay View, Oct. 1st, 2013

by Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa

Gov. Jerry Brown is the good ol’ boy of the 21st century prison industrial slave complex (PISC). I write this in the interest of my humanity and all humanity. My self-worth is not measured by the arbitrary placement of gang titles by my captors, over which I have no control. Yet I adamantly reject all labels placed on me to the day I die.

The governor is empowered by the people. Their voice is the voice he is supposed to adhere to in the state of California. He chooses to disregard the power of the people. The governor is so arrogant that he took the position along with his crony, Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard, to defy the highest court in this country.

This is the mentality of a good ol’ boy who attempts to rule with little regard for the interests of the common people of California. They exert their power to oppress and suppress the people, maintaining control over all aspects of our lives, whether we’re in or out of prison.

It amazes me how political officials who are empowered by the people have little or no respect for the people or the rule of law. They take the position that “this is how I run MY government.”

News flash: It’s not your government, governor. The government belongs to we the people. You are working to serve the peoples’ interest; we are not here to serve your interests.

You govern all the people of California, including prisoners, despite what you may think. If you are unable to do your job to the satisfaction of California taxpayers and voters, then it is time that you look for a new occupation this coming election. And you can take Secretary Beard along with you because the people will have spoken.

We say that our lives are more valuable than your re-election and we insist that you put politics aside and END LONG TERM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT NOW. Solitary confinement is torture.

Your silence does not excuse you for your crimes against our humanity. You are an overseer of CDCr prisons and we have evidence that clearly shows prisoners have been murdered, beaten and tortured throughout these solitary confinement units by CDCr officials who are subordinate to you.

We understand that you’re not willing to risk losing the $2 million in campaign money that the CCPOA – the prison guards’ union – contributes to your campaign for governor. We understand clearly that you are seeking re-election and do not want to jeopardize those donations.

But we say that our lives are more valuable than your re-election and we insist that you put politics aside and END LONG TERM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT NOW. Solitary confinement is torture. Amnesty International has condemned the pattern of practice in which prisoners are tortured. The United Nations has condemned the pattern of practice in which prisoners are tortured.

The United States Commission on Safety and Abuse in Prisons has been calling for an end to long term solitary confinement over the last seven years and has condemned this pattern of practice in which prisoners are tortured.

We the people of California have condemned this pattern of practice in which prisoners are tortured.

Amnesty International has condemned the pattern of practice in which prisoners are tortured.

Governor, it is time for you and Secretary Beard to quit manipulating Californians with your Willie Horton racist rhetoric toward scaring the American people with the big Black boogie man syndrome.

The United Nations has condemned the pattern of practice in which prisoners are tortured.

Stop it, governor! You and Beard should be ashamed of such divisive rhetoric that you use to pit Californians against each other by race, class and caste.

The United States Commission on Safety and Abuse in Prisons has been calling for an end to long term solitary confinement over the last seven years and has condemned this pattern of practice in which prisoners are tortured.

We ask all supporters and non-supporters to vote politicians into positions of power who will hear the voice of the people. Reject those who abuse the power afforded to them due to some narcissistic, over-possessive control freak syndrome which many of them suffer from.

We the people of California have condemned this pattern of practice in which prisoners are tortured.

We prisoners insist that the people of California get the facts. Follow your money. See whose pocket it’s going into.

Investigate the solitary confinement units. You’ll see that CDCr has been lying to you. When you find that out, will you then hold them accountable? Or will it be business as usual?

Where is the accountability to the taxpayers? Any public official who tortures prisoners does so in your name – not his or hers.

In struggle,

Sitawa

CDCR’s $9.2 billion corruption machine vs. Prison Human Rights Movement

Published in the SF Bay View, Aug. 16th, 2013

by Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, PBSP-SHU Short Corridor Collective

Aug. 14, 2013 – I would like to reiterate that the Agreement to End All Hostilities, issued Aug. 12, 2012, is significant for all prisoners because CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) has encouraged prisoners in their 33 prisons to not only engage in self-destructive behavior but has also helped heighten racial hostilities – the catalyst for internal warfare, racial warfare and gang warfare – all of which has been magnified inside the prisons and throughout our communities.

We decided to address these contradictions head on by engaging in a dialogue that was meaningful, sincere and honest with each respective entity. We realized that our responsibility was to end actions that were contrary to the growth and development of each and every prisoner.

We have been attempting to end hostilities for the last 13 years, but the CDCR was not a willing participant in the process. In 2000, we were allowed to get together and work on ending racial and gang riots and to end internal violence.

The CDCR, after realizing that we were successful in our attempts, became very irritable and obstructionist toward our work and proceeded to deliberately sabotage it. During a racial riot in 2000, a young prisoner was murdered by a prison guard. Young prisoners were being murdered in these racial riots; their actions were used by prison guards to justify their being shot for being armed with a weapon – i.e., a makeshift prison knife.

Countless prisoners have been murdered in cold blood under the CDCR’s “no warning shot policy.” The prison guards justify killing the prisoners because, they say, they thought they saw a weapon or witnessed one prisoner advancing on another. We consider this to be cold blooded murder. We called for an end to hostilities to eliminate giving prison guards an excuse to kill prisoners.

We realize that the justification for locking men and women away in solitary confinement on prison gang validations indefinitely while also subjecting us to a military debriefing process as the only way to program out constitute attacks to our physical and psychological well-being. Prisoners can no longer withstand such torture.

This process has led to many debriefings and mentally ill prisoners throughout CDCR: in PBSP-SHU, Corcoran SHU, Tehachapi SHU, Folsom SHU and San Quentin Adjustment Center (Death Row). As people who have suffered under such a brutal, diabolical system, we realize that it is our responsibility to help change the course of violent prison systems that have made their way to our communities.

Orchestrated activities are carried out by debriefers and collaborators whose sole role is to maintain hostilities and deepen infiltration and entrapments within our communities in association with the law enforcement in the streets.

We had been talking about playing a greater leadership role for the last 13 years throughout the PBSP-SHU, but we were unable to agree collectively due to our isolation. So when powerful entities within the California prison system – Institutional Gang Investigators (IGI), Investigations Services Unit (ISU) and Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) – isolated us together in the short corridor, a super-max SHU, we were able to re-open our dialogue and agreed to ending the blatant attacks that our families, friends and associates were being subjected to – the same attacks that we were being subjected to in solitary confinement.

We called for an end to hostilities to eliminate giving prison guards an excuse to kill prisoners.

We realize nothing productive can be done to change the current state of our situation, our prison environment, unless we end the hostilities between prisoners and end all racial and gang violence within the CDCR.

We feel that prisoners are the victims of a systematic process that manipulates them through racial and gang violence in order to prevent greater unity.

In solidarity, struggle, love and respect,

Sitawa

Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa is one of four members of the PBSP-SHU Short Corridor Collective who sit at the negotiating table whenever Gov. Jerry Brown authorizes the CDCR to negotiate the hunger strikers’ demands.