Return to Corcoran-SHU from CCI-Tehachapi for “step 3”

A report from Jabari about his return to CSP-Corcoran for “step 3” of the “Step-Down Program”:

April 19, 2015

They finally officially opened up the step 3 program here at CSP-Corcoran, and they needed volunteers from CCI-Tehachapi for this, so I volunteered. Anything to get away from that hell-hole in the mountains.

This is what I have gotten from my 32 days back at Corcoran

First and foremost it is true that they have this 8 to 10 correctional officers’(c/o s’) ‘welcoming party’ that welcomes each bus or van of transfers at the front gate when you first step off the bus. You are welcomed with this bully attack upon you that is strategically and tactically launched to provoke a physical response from each individual who steps off the bus.

With us, we arrived in a convoy of three vans. In the first van were two young Southern Mexicans, in the second van were me and an older Afrikan Brotha, and in the last van was a Caucasian (a close friend of mine). Thus we were able to witness this bully attack and prepare ourselves for it before we were made subjects to it.

Welcoming squad

There were about 8 c/o’s hovering around the exit door of the van with a lieutenant carrying a handheld cam-recorder, an overseeing sergeant and a questions sergeant, who threw a barrage of questions at you like a drill sergeant in the army, to confuse and throw your thinking off, so that you cannot form a clear thought to launch an effective physical attack back and/or take your mind completely away from the fact that they removed the block lock off your handcuff, removed your handcuff, removed your waste chains and your ankle chains, and then handcuff your hands behind you.

They do all this in one quick well-rehearsed motion, in which one c/o acts as though he is peacefully assisting you off the vehicle, but as soon as he has a nice firm grip on your arm, he snatches you off of the vehicle into the crowd of bully attackers, where the one in front of you grabs a fistful of clothing in your chest-area with one hand, then with the other hand he has a firm grip on your other arm. Then another grabs a fist full of part of your clothing, while behind you, you have a guy with a hand full of part of your clothing, another firm grip of your arm, and at the same time he is kicking your foot far apart from your other foot. On the other side of you, behind you, there is another guy doing the same thing: kicking your other foot out. They are directly behind you and a guy has a firm grip on your forehead, with his fist he is pushing into the back of your neck and the hand that is gripping your forehead is also pulling your head backwards and he is yelling at you saying “Look up at the sky! Look up at the sky!” while the sergeant is yelling a barrage of questions and demands at you. “Look-up-at-the-sky!”

It’s all crazy and you truly have to be a very well disciplined person to get through this well-organized attack without attacking back. With us, we all understand and realize that we can not mistake aggressive action for effective action to get our point across, which requires a strong life commitment and discipline.

Moving forward, after successfully making it past Corcoran’s bully squad, we were given one of everything as far as laundry and lining are concerned. But upon our second Thursday here we were given 3 boxers for underwear, 3 t-shirts, 3 pairs of socks, new tennis [shoes] and sheets, pillows, pillowcases. The 5 men who came with me, we all got our property on the 23^rd day after our arrival, and for me, all the property that CCI-Tehachapi seized from me when I got there was still being stored there, thus it came back to CSP-Corcoran with me. Corcoran gave me back everything except for my radio and tv, but I did get the radio that was purchased for me in Tehachapi by a friend. So everything CCI-Tehachapi took from me, Corcoran gave back (except for the radio&tv), and some of my pictures which put me over the 40 allowed.

Yard

Yard is run three times a week for 1-Left (1L) and three times a week for 1-Right (1R) on off-setting days: week 1 1-Left get yard on Monday-Wednesday-Fridays, and the top tier has first yard from 8:30AM to 11:30 AM, and the way the c/o’s do it to maximize time is tha the two officers who escort the first yard cage in, will go and get the first cell on the bottom tier and bring them out to the yard cage from where they just took the first prisoners out of. Thus it maximizes the time and gets the next yard out quicker, who stay out until 3:30 PM.

Unit 1-Right has on week 1 Tuesday-Thursday-Saturdays, again with the top tier from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM, and the bottom tier 12:30 to 3:30 PM. Then it rotates for the second week, in which 1-Left will have Tuesday-Thursday-Saturdays, and 1-Right will have Mon-Wed-Fridays.

All Sundays are for “make up yard”: if there is fog, or yard is closed or stopped for some reason, or you have a group meeting, you will get make up yard on Sunday, in which you might go out with 1-Right and 1-Left. [note: typist heard that this make up yard has recently been denied to people in 1L without any reason given].

Breakfast is passed out at 7 AM every morning and it is picked up at 7:30AM. They have trays with lids now, but they are bigger than at CCI-Tehachapi. Thus people are counted every morning in time for yard to start at 8:30 on time and sometimes earlier.

Visiting

Saturdays visiting starts at 8:30 AM for 4B yard and ends at 11:30-12:30. 4A yard starts at 11:30 and ends at 3:30 PM.

On Sundays 4A starts at 8:30 AM and ends at 12:30 PM, and 4B starts at 11:30 AM and ends at 3:30 PM.

Prisoners can have a visit on both Saturday and Sunday but your visitor cannot the same person: for instance, your sister can’t visit on both Saturday and Sunday, but your sister can visit on Saturday and your brother on Sunday. And your visit can last from anywhere between 1 to 2 hours, depending on how many people are visiting, if space is needed or not needed. So you see some guys out there for 1:15, 1:30, 1:45 up to 2:00. And when making an appointment for that coming week, you can also reserve a spot for the following weekend, and it doesn’t take an hour or longer to make an appointment.

Laundry

Laundry is the old laundry-bag system by putting dirty laundry in laundry bags, sending them out to be washed and returned to you. When ordering laundry they will accommodate you with sizes up to 6XL boxers, 6XL t-shirts. The size you fit.

Canteen

Food is about the same except they give you fresh oranges here every day – different from the apples in CCI-Tehachapi. Fresh real fruit juices, real maple syrup and canned fruit. Real jelly.

The canteen has a couple of extra items such as digital antennas, cable connectors, and L-connectors for flatscreen tv’s, chillibeans in pouch, spicy vegetable soup, bowls and cups with lids, Irish Spring soap (60 ct), and Dial soap (85ct).

TV Stations

These range from 39 stations up to 90 station, depending on building section and cell. In the section and building we are in, guys are getting 39 to 70 stations: all the PBS stations, all local stations, Spanish stations, movie stations, etc. etc. You get a lot of tv stations here that you have to get out of the air with digital antennas or loose wire. Radio stations are the same, you get many radio stations.

Showers

They are not walking to showers yet, but they say they are going to start letting us walk alone this coming week and then soon after they will extend available jobs. Up to now I am the only Afrikan in this section [but this has changed at the time of typing this, 5/9].

Jabari Scott, H30536
CSP-Cor-SHU 4B-1R-64
P.O. Box 3481
Corcoran, CA 93212

The Pelikkkan Bay Factor – An Indictable Offense

The Pelikkkan Bay Factor – An Indictable Offense

November 18, 2012

Prior to 1987, the CDCR had a policy of segregating alleged members of rival prison groups while assigned to the Security Housing Unit (SHU) exercise yard. This policy was designed to minimize prison violence, and based on available statistics, this was an effective policy, but 1987 marked a change in this policy when New Folsom State Prison partially integrated their SHU exercise yards. This partial integration resulted in a visible increase in prison violence, but what most people in society were not aware of is that the internal dynamics which were conducive towards the facilitation of that abrupted increase in violence, and that internal dynamics were the new Folsom state prison administration and staff micro-managing and orchestrating the conditions, designed to perpetuate both racial and rival group violence. For example:

Let’s say, a conflict breaks out between a New Afrikan and white prisoner. Instead of trying to contain the conflict, the pigs would move these same two individuals to another unit within the SHU, and now the conflict has spread to another unit. Now more people are involved, escalating the violence and racial conflict. The pigs would then move these same individuals to another unit, further escalating the violence; and being that prisoners are so caught up in the struggle for survival, we tend to be come oblivious to the administrative manipulation of the conditions.

I became aware of staff manipulation when they attempted to insert me into the conflict, being that they knew that I had zero tolerance against New Afrikan prisoners being attacked. So they took me out of Bed Rock (i.e., Behavioral Control Unit), moved me in the cell with Brotha Fela, then they moved me in the cell with Brotha Abasi Banda. They they moved everybody that was in the initial conflict into the section I was in. It became very intense. I, along with Brotha Abasi, became mediators for the conflicting parties.

Though we initiated a ceasefire in that particular unit, the pigs were doing everything in their power to undermine our efforts. Their anticipation of me mobilizing an attack proved to be an inaccurate assessment of my character. At this point, the pigs moved more prisoners into our section who had been involved in the initial conflict. Truthfully, the yard was on the verge of exploding. Prisoners were allegedly being intercepted for trying to, allegedly, bring knives to the exercise yard. The pigs’ manipulation reached its desperation point one day when Administration pulled me out to the front office and point-blank told me they would have the gun-man leave his post and allow me and the Brothas to attack the whites.

The pigs were mad at the whites for allegedly stabbing a guard, and they wanted me to go after this one individual because he was scheduled for release. I stood up and cursed them all, and told them to take me back to my cell. When I got back to the unit, I told everybody what had occurred. They didn’t like that.

About two days later, the gang unit raided our cells; my cell and the cells of the Brothas who associated with myself and Brotha Abasi. They also took us to the prison hospital for x-rays, to determine if we had weapons in our rectum cavity, while all the other Brothas were kept in holding cells indoors while out cells were being searched. I was kept in an outdoor holding cell, approximately 4 hours. They took us back to our cells between 11:30 and midnight. Them pigs had tore up our cells. Everything was on the floor, personal pictures as well as letters from family.

A little after midnight the gang unit came to our cell and told me I was being moved back to Bed Rock, for a conspiracy. Everybody knew that this was a blatant lie. There were Brothas that night allegedly in possession of knives and hacksaw blades, but I was the only one sent to Bed Rock, and they found nothing in me and Brotha Abasi’s cell. But this was punishment because I had refused to spread this racial conflict and be their little  pawn.

People, the above story is very relevant. It exemplifies the orchestrated conditions manufactured by the CDCr, designed to ignite and perpetuate conflict between prisoners. Being that the CDCr did not get the desired effect from this partial integration, toward the end of 1988, they fully integrated the SHU exercise yard, and for those of us who had the capacity to resolve this conflict, the pigs placed us in Bed Rock under false allegations, and as a result, all hell broke out, the prelude to Corcoran state prison. The conflict was being transported to the SHU yard at Corcoran SP, which resulted in the rapid increase in prison violence. Corcoran SP, at the peak of this CDCr-sanctioned conflict, was averaging two to four assaults a day.

At that time, most prisoners did not understand what was happening, but those of us who have been very active in the movement, knew that something wasn’t right. We asked ourselves: Why would the CDC change their policy at this juncture, especially when the policy was proven to be effective? The answer appeared to be a simple one: to intentionally increase prison violence between alleged members of rival prison groups. We soon discovered that it wasn’t that simple. We realized that the CDC was using us as a means to develop the statistics (i.e., propaganda) to justify the building of Pelican Bay state prison and its over 200 million dollar price tag.

The CDCr justification for Pelican Bay is rooted in two primary criteria: 1) To isolate the so-called worst of the worst, who have proved too violent to be held at other prisons. 2) To presumably minimize prison violence.

The CDCr reported an increase in prison violence to the media/press on a number of occasions between 1987 and 1990. What the CDCr intentionally neglected to tell the public, is that it was their policy, both in practice and intent, that was responsible for the rapid increase in prison violence!  Also, there were two other factors that must be considered. In 1987, the CDCr implemented a “shoot to kill” policy, and in 1988, they changed weapons and ammunition. The new bullet was designed to blow up in our bodies – a guaranteed kill!

Based on the evidence, the policies implemented at both New Folsom and Corcoran state prisons were not only a prelude to Pelican Bay state prison, but were specifically designed to justify and add credence to the CDCR campaign to build Pelican Bay state prison. If there is any doubt in your mind about these allegations, ask yourself: why would the CDCr integrate the SHU exercise yard at a time when they knew violence between the different rival groups was guaranteed to break out? The CDCr was not being pressured by state politicians, or by a court order, or by the public, to integrate known rival gangs/group members. So what was the CDCR’s motivation? Also, consider this: The CDCr knew without a doubt that by integrating the SHU exercise yards, all hell was going to break out, so why would the CDCr adopt a “shoot to kill” policy at the same time the forced integration policy was being implemented? And then introduce a new weapon that was designed to facilitate the “shoot to kill” policy??

In a five year period the CDCr murdered 27 prisoners. At least seven were murdered on the integrated SHU exercise yard at Corcoran state prison, and approximately five men on the SHU exercise yard at New Folsom. Compare this to the rest of the country’s state and federal prison system, during the same five year period, where a total of only seven prisoners were murdered by prison guards in all other states combined!!

Are the crimes of murder, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon (eg. an assault rifle) justified simply because the victims of these crimes are alleged criminals or gang members? You, as tax payers have also been this victim of a state-sponsored crime. The CDCr politically hijacked and extorted over 200 million dollars from your hard-earned tax dollars to build the high-tech torture chamber. This prison was not even necessary. Keep in mind that it was the CDCr that escalated the violence.

Pelican Bay state prison is rooted in deception, exploitation, extortion, violence and murder. It is a symbol of crimes against humanity!  250 million dollars could have been to enhance the quality of learning in the so-called inner cities, provided funding for crime prevention and criminal rehabilitation programs, drug rehab, day care, prenatal-care, job training and job placement, and INCREASE teachers wages. We can go on and on. These things alone could have a very positive and productive impact on crime and society at large!

As an attempt to End Hostilities and Abolish the Security Housing Units, as we know them, the Pelikkkan Bay Factor has re-emerged its malignancy with the intent to impede our progress towards Justice and Humanity. So it is imperative that we resist any temptation to capitulate our moral integrity and fortitude within our endeavors to obtain our 5 Core Demands, and end all racial and group hostilities.

The factors that served as a prelude to Pelikkkan Bay state prison, are the same factors being employed by the CDCr to justify its continued existence. Though I only provided a brief illustration of the CDCR manipulation and micro-managing of both racial and group hostilities, I believe it is enough to assist us in navigating through the tricks and traps of the CDCR. We must remain vigilant in pursuit of our righteous cause and ignore the rumors of war being cultivated and propagated by the pigs.

Their desperation is a clear sign of how close we are to victory!

Abdul Olugbala Shakur, s/n J. Harvey, D-1-119, C48884, PO Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532 (now inbetween Pelican Bay State Prison and CSP-Corcoran 4B-1R unit)

Mutope Duguma, s/n J. Crawford, D-1-117, D05996, PO Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532

Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, s/n R. Dewberry, D-1-117, C35671, PO Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532 (now in CCI)

Abasi Ganda, s/n C. Jackson, D-2-107, C33559, PO Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532 (now in another facility)