June 29,
2013
by Mutope
Duguma, Sitawa N. Jamaa, Abdul Shakur and Sondai Dumisani for the Pelican Bay
Human Rights Movement
In: SF Bay View
On Jan. 29,
2013, I wrote an article called “The Lying Game: CDCR, Inc.”
I wrote this article because I wanted the public, our legal team and mediation
team and anyone else who’s willing to listen to know that it is not the
prisoners who are lying; instead, it is the prison officials at the very top
who are doing all the lying.
They lied
to our representatives about promising to implement our Five Core Demands. They
have lied about letting prisoners out of solitary confinement who have been
classified as alleged gang members. They lied to the Office of the Inspector
General, saying that they cannot utilize the Behavior Management Unit (BMU)
because of the past violence.
What must
be understood is that the CDCR officials and officers were the culprits who
orchestrated the violence between the races. This is something that has been
proven already by numerous CDCR officials who betrayed CDCR’s code of silence.
They call them “whistleblowers,” which is another way to say “snitches.”
The CDCR’s
Green Wall GANG has been exposed, where CDCR officials pitted race against race
and set up brutal gladiator fights, in which many prisoners were shot and
murdered by the same prison officers who were betting on these gladiator
fights.
I touched
on these criminal acts by CDCR prison officers in an article I wrote, “How
Easily We Forget.” Not one prison official was prosecuted for shooting and murdering
prisoners, although there was a ton of evidence provided by CDCR officials
themselves. This was the only time when CDCR rejected snitching, when it
threatened their green wall gang. Their policy is that if you put on the green
correctional suit, then the code of silence has to be honored; meaning, “We do
not snitch on our own” under no circumstances.
Yet, they
place prisoners in solitary confinement indefinitely on confidential
information provided by prison snitches that they themselves corroborate under
“confidentiality.” Then they tell you that in order to get out of solitary you
have to emasculate yourself, or become a “prison snitch,” and they influence
these actions by placing prisoners under a system of protracted torture.
The prison
officials lied to numerous federal judges while under oath, testifying through
many judicial proceedings. Within the CDCR there exists a culture of liars,
where they lie to one another just as well. Unfortunately many of them think
that they are professional liars, and they take pride in this practice.
On May 29,
2013, our Mediation Team had a meeting with Inspector General Officer Mike
Stainer and Deputy Attorney General Kelly Harrington, and they told our
Mediation Team that our four representatives have been refusing to have
meetings with PBSP officials in order to resolve the local issues here at the
prison. This was an outright lie!
Sitawa, one
of the reps for New Africans, wrote to Warden G.D. Lewis, Chief Deputy Warden
Ducart and Associate Warden R.L. Swift, in a CDCR 22 request form, a clear
description how and why the last meeting failed. Their response was that the
litigation officer had informed them not to hold the meetings any more. A
similar CDCR 22 form was then forwarded to Litigation Officer Barnts and he
refused to respond.
Directors
Mike Stainer and Kelly Harrington stated, matter of factly, to our Mediation
Team that it is not CDCR that does not want to hold the meetings; it’s the four
representatives who are refusing the talks. This was a conspired lie.
Our
Mediation Team was provided with the documents proving that CDCR officials are
nothing but liars who have no respect for the truth and take no responsibility
for their lies. This is how they have been able to hold well over 3,000
prisoners indefinitely in solitary confinement on information that they
manufactured along with prison snitches who conspired with them in order to get
out of solitary or to stay on General Population.
Why have
there not been any investigations into the many SHU placements, where prison
officials lied in order to place prisoners into long term solitary confinement?
We all have our facts about each of our individual situations, but can we
expect CDCR to give us a fair and impartial investigation? NO. They have proven
time and time again that they are incapable of investigating themselves.
We believe
that these staff personnel who live in their isolated communities, who have had
very limited interaction with human beings who do not talk as they do, look as
they do, or live as they do, across race and class lines, can easily disconnect
themselves from our humanity and, as a result, treat us as they please.
Our
Mediation Team was provided with the truth, written by one of the PBSP
subordinates of the warden, Capt. Puget, as to why the meetings were ended.
We
also believe that Warden G.D. Lewis “sabotaged” the meetings by putting the
following gang officials in charge of the meetings: Associate Warden R.L.
Swift, former ISU Capt. Barneberg, former IGI Lt. Capt. Olson and Capt. Puget,
former appeal coordinator.
These
officials have a personal axe to grind. They are the same officials who have
been subjecting us to every form of torture within their power, toward
destroying us physically and psychologically. These officials hated the
meetings with the associate warden from the onset, but they had “no control”
over them, which is why, when they gained control, they deliberately set about
to sabotage the meetings by being blatantly disrespectful to our
representatives, who then immediately rejected their BS unanimously.
We then had
Sgt. Davis, along with all the other lieutenants and sergeants, telling us that
those who are in charge now will do what Assistant Warden P.T. Smith was too
cowardly to do – end these charades: prisoners talking to each other.
This is not
no charade. This is about human beings’ lives and suffering in solitary
confinement. This is not about no prison officials’ ego or feelings. This is
about the suffering of prisoners in long term solitary confinement and their
families, who suffer as a consequence of their unjust placement in solitary
confinement.
We asked,
“Why is it that you guys are so bent on holding us back here?” They responded
with the typical words, “safety and security of the institution.” Then we told
them, “But we’re all back here on administrative placement,” meaning that we
committed NO offense to be held back here, especially 10 to 40 years. It does
not get more inhumane than this.
They fall
silent and mouth off some sarcasm. As they turn to go, they say, “You all
should have thought about this before you broke the law (expletive).” And they
continue their expletives right on out of the unit section door.
We believe
that these staff personnel who live in their isolated communities, who have had
very limited interaction with human beings who do not talk as they do, look as
they do, or live as they do, across race and class lines, can easily disconnect
themselves from our humanity and, as a result, treat us as they please.
Send our brothers some love and light:
Mutope Duguma (s/n J. Crawford), D-05996,
PBSP SHU D1-117, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532
Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (s/n R. Dewberry),
C-35671, PBSP SHU D1-117L, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532
Abdul Olugbala Shakur (s/n J. Harvey),
C-48884, PBSP SHU D1-119, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532
Sondai Kamdibe Dumisani (s/n R. Ellis),
C-68764, PBSP SHU D1-223, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95532