Thursday, December 8, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
GERONIMO JI JAGA SPEAKS
(These are excerpts from a speech made by Geronimo at a July 26, 1997 "Welcome Home” rally in Los Angeles after his release from prison,)
Amandla! Free the Land! Revolution! Freedom! Uhuru Sasa - that means Freedom Now! We come together as a united nation to fight against our problem. We're Africans, we can do anything, I want to give props to all our queens in struggle, and to my family, and to ya'll, my extended family who sustained me through the years with your support. I've been out of the penitentiary a little over a month and a half, and I'm trying to adopt to ya'll's way of living, but for years, it's a lot different. You know I'm not use to speaking. Most of you who knew me back then saw me on the streets, patrolling these police, trying to bring a message that we're ready to die for what we believe in. Now you all are trying to make a speaker out of me.
And I want to talk to ya'll, because we got some ideas. I'm looking at you all. He was in Folsom with me, he was in Quentin, he was in Soledad with me, she use to help me feed the kids. We patrolled the police at night, and in the morning we were there to feed the children. Because that's something that's very important to understand -- our struggle was based on love! That's what made us so strong, because love is the strongest force there is! We were so in love with our young children that we were ready to take bullets for them, we were ready to die for them.
But while we were keeping the police off our children, we were spoiling them. People said to me in the pen, look at them now, they're spoiled; they don't respect their elders, they don't respect the women, they don't respect themselves, they're listening to the police. You hear this crack shit is coming from the CIA, and yet you're still doing it! What the hell is going on?!
So we didn't realize that while we were giving our lives protecting the children, feeding you all, going without eating, we didn't realize that we were spoiling you. Then when you came in the pen, you get discipline. We need youngsters to understand that real war ain't no joke. A lot of people are talking bulljive and we don't want to hear it, because we've got to be serious about putting together the kind of forces it's going to require to liberate our nation!
I've been to DC, I've been to Philly, to New York, Atlanta, New Orleans; ain't been yet to Dallas or Houston, cities where we had Black Panthers. They're just like this (city). Everyone is so receptive to the principle of revolution right now. So, what do we do about that? There are certain principles we maintained for years in prison and out here on the streets, with people that continued the struggle. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Nation of Islam, all of the groups that have been real in carrying on what we started. I cannot salute you enough, because I know the pressures that have been applied upon you.
In warfare, you have to know your enemy. Until you understand what your enemy is, you'll be killing the wrong person. If a guy sics a killer dog on you, a pack of dogs, you’re going to defend yourself; but you don't turn around the rest of your life hating those dogs, going, "I'm gonna kill those dogs," and your whole life is consumed with those poor dogs, who only did what they were told to do. You have to know who your enemy is. Your enemy is not the dogs; your enemy is the pigs, the pigs sent the dogs! You take the dogs and you put them in your column. You give them some meat, and you turn them and you at them over there, and you get at the pigs; you get at the real enemy.
But it's not easy to know who the real enemy is when you're embroiled in a psychological war. In a psychological war, everything is a lie. It's based on deception. You have various forms of war. We conducted armed struggle on the streets. Walter Pope, John Carr, Sawndre Red - I can name many brothers and sisters who lost their lives conducting armed struggle.
We conducted conventional struggle, defensive struggle, and understood who the real enemy is and how he's coming at you. Right now, and for decades, the enemy has been defeating us through psychological warfare.
He's been tricking you, making you hate each other, making you turn on each other, your brother, your momma, your own family. He's been doing it through all sorts of avenues, and you've got to get hip to it. Lies, deception, gossip, slander, all this he's been generated in the same place the crack is being generated - right in Langley, Virginia.
They come at you with the crack - you know, that's chemical warfare; AIDS - that's biological warfare. You have to understand that various forms of warfare by first understanding your enemy, who would stoop that low. They talk about Saddam Hussein - they've been practicing chemical and biological warfare for decades. Look at what happened at Tuskegee; look at what happened in San Francisco in the 60s (Army germ warfare experiments).
People of my generation know this, but our youngsters don't know this. We're not passing it along to them. You may say, "they never listen." No, they will listen, they do want to learn. We have to take the time. We have to take measures to get across to them, because that's our future, that's who the enemy is targeting; they're targeting our young soldier class.
I’ve been studying war for years - that's why they hate me. All these brothers you see around here patrolled the police. Geronimo didn't start the Panthers in L.A. I'm from the South. Bunchy Carter started the Black Panthers in L.A. Geronimo is not the longest held political prisoner from the Black Panthers. Romaine Chip Fitzgerald, who's still in prison, is the longest held political prisoner in these prisons. I don't want to take credit away from any of these brothers and sisters who fought and died before I came here.
I was in Viet Nam while they were getting killed out here on Montclair and Adams. I came here to help educate and to teach military tactics to the L.A. Panthers, the San Francisco Panthers, the New York Panthers, the Chicago Panthers, all through the South where I came from. New Orleans, Dallas, Houston ... and I've got to get back to all those places, where they say, "you are our homeboy," like I am a homeboy here....
I was in New York, with the New York Panthers, and I said, come in here and lets talk about what is going on. I said, "There is no unity here." They were beautiful brothers, but they allowed a rumor to divide them. I did 27 years, and here it's 1997, and they are still allowing COUNTELPRO-type shit to do this? No, we understand better now. We can't let this happen. We have to set the example. We learn from our mistakes.
COUNTELPRO wasn't no joke. They killed brothers. Putting us in prison ain't nothing. They took lives. They took Bunchy’s life. They took Redd's life, Huey's life, my boy Fred Hampton's life, and I could name and name and name. They made us tell our sister Assata, "Well, we can't get you out of prison, but we have to get you out of the country for a while." We have to decriminalize all that, so Assata, and all those beautiful sisters, can come back not as criminals, but as heroes. Assata is a hero! Nehanda is a hero!
How are we going to do this? People who have done time say,, what is the solution? We can't restrict the legal process within the confines of a foreign government - the United States - who are the descendants of our former slave masters. They're not our presidents, our Supreme Courts. That's bulljive. That's been forced on us! Our solution is to organize our nation! It's the same message Marcus Garvey gave our people in the 20s; it's the same message that Malik el Hajj Shabazz carried on, and that we're still carrying on today. And it's a shame that we haven't done it yet. We thought we'd go into the , next millennium as a free nation.
We have almost 50 million people; that would make us the ninth most populous nation. We have now almost $600 billion going through our nation every year, that would rank us I think the fifth richest nation. We have the
doctors, we have the professors, the technicians. We have everything! And we still don't call ourselves a nation. That's a damn shame.
I can't tell no gang member to respect you when you turn around and bow down to the same sons of bitches that put our ancestors into slavery, and call them, our leaders. I'M sorry, I don't mean no disrespect to our elders and our sisters when I use these extreme words. But I want to drive the point home. After 27 years, how the hell we ain't free? We ain't got our own institutions, our own schools, our own doctors. When I went into the pen, there was a debate between integration and liberation. What did integration get us? Things are worse now than ever for most of our people. The proof of a theory is in the social practice. Liberation is the solution.
I tell them in the pen, "You want to sell drugs? When we liberate. I'm going to give you all the pharmaceutical companies. You all can make all the drugs you want, and you'll own the drug companies."You ask, do we really want to do that? Sure, because I know those brothers aren't going to put those drugs into their children. They'll see them as being medicinal like our ancestors did, as something from the spirit, as Imhotep tried to teach us thousands of years ago. We're going to turn it around and the brother and sister on the street, selling that shit, we're going to put them in charge of the medicine. Don't put them in jail. Don't put anybody in jail! We shouldn't have any jails.
I don't do a lot of talking. I back up what I say. I want to bring out what some of the brothers told me in the pen, Mutulu Shakur, Sekou Odinga, other Black Liberation Army soldiers; when they were busted, they told the pigs, "I am a soldier, this is my name, my rank, my serial number, and that's all you get,” And they're still in jail today, even though they said everything that was required of them by the Geneva Accords, if you are arrested in a war, an insurrection. The U.S. does not recognize us as prisoners of war, and we have to make them. That's a reality. We are at war. Every time a soldier stands up in that war to defend you, if he is attacked, he is supposed to be attacked.... We die for our people. We can do 27 years for our people and not come out and ask for nothing. Our struggle is for the liberation of our people, not to be treated well in the prisons.
Prisons are only a small part of our struggle for liberation. There's other issues, crack in our streets, disrespect for our elders. We used to be able to walk down these streets, old folks 60-70 years old, at night, safely. You let anybody mess with them, we would have got them; if we couldn't have got them, some of the Muslims would have got them, or some of the US (United Slaves) people would have, or the APP.
There's a difference now - they made you hate each other. We went through hell coming up from Louisiana, where they called you colored, Negroes; Kwame Ture, known then as Stokely Carmichael, Kathleen Cleaver, Rap Brown, struggled so hard to make you all understand, that we were no longer Negroes, or colored, we were Black, and they called it the Black Power Movement. Now, this is 1997, and we've grown, we've matured, and through those years some of the greatest minds among us have resolved that we have to cease calling ourselves by an adjective, Black, and we have to be called by a noun, Africans.
We have to get away from shame and fear, and be proud to call ourselves Africans, where life began, where everything evolved from. So we are Africans and we call ourselves New Afrikans, to distinguish ourselves from the mama-land, so this is the new term to identify our nation - New Afrika. Imari Obadele, Chokwe Lumumba, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, were very instrumental in bringing that about, and getting us to understand ourselves, because just like we have to understand our enemy, we also have to understand ourselves. So that self-identification is very important. It goes to our historical personality, based upon our Africanity. It's not based on European-ness, other than it's intrusion by slavery.
When you carry the legacy of the slave-master, you're doing our movement a great disservice. You turn around and give your child the name of this dog that raped your grandmother, and you're giving that child an evil spirit. That's what our ancestors taught us, the power of nommo, the word. You're cursing those children. When they grow up, they may have a first name, Jamal, and the last name of someone who participated in slavery - that won't work. They're going to have that divided consciousness, that social schizophrenia that you see so prevalent, among us, because we are too scared to embrace our ancestry fully, to change both our names and give that legacy to our children so they can carry it on, and not the legacy of our slave-masters.
What a lot of youngsters tell me is that when their elders did take time with them, they were giving them stuff that didn't make sense. So, you elder brothers and sisters, when I say take time with the youngsters, you better give them the real, you better study yourself, come to these meetings, contact somebody and get the knowledge so you can pass it on properly.
Back then, Bunchy and them had to deal with the gangs and gangsters, to change the gangster mentality to a revolutionary mentality. And a lot we can't talk about. We have learned that in the 60s, we ran our mouths a little too much about certain things - but the word will be given to develop certain functions, not because I'm out of prison, but because it's a new trend, a new effort all throughout the country to liberate people, not only in the prison behind the walls, but in the prisons on the other side of the walls. The coming together is sincere, because we know now who we can trust, and we know now who we cannot.
And we cannot do it without you. We understand ourselves as you all; you all understand yourselves as us. We can't see each other as anything apart - I am, therefore we are; we are, therefore I am. The contradictions people see, with people who are in different organizations, have to be understood - don't listen to gossip, rumors, one of our greatest enemies. Hitler started that - or it goes back to Sun Tzu - Hitler and Mussolini would send agents to mingle with the population, and they would tell people that Malcolm X was no good, Elijah Muhammad did this and so, and they got us to killing each other. Among our people, I'm sorry to say, it works more often than not. We have to stop being so eager to hate each other, When we brought in the Black Power movement in the 60s, that was based on love. They said black was ugly; we said Black was beautiful, We began to define our own reality.
When we said Black was beautiful, you would not believe the pride and dignity that swept through our nation. That scared them more than anything. They knew all of the guns, all of the breakfast programs, all the rhetoric, nothing hurt them more than Black people loving each other.
Now, when I went to the pen, I leave the streets, Black was still beautiful. I come back. Blacks hate each other - that trips me out. We even allowed them to come present the old European image - if you don't look like the white man, the white woman, you're ugly. We had made the Black woman, the Black man the standard of beauty. They put a lot of money into promoting that image.
When I left the streets in the 60s, you could ask anybody, we loved each other. So, we had problems - we struggled to resolve those problems, But our main contradiction was with the man. Now our contradictions are among ourselves. We didn't know L.A. to be all these sets fighting with each other. I don't want to repeat these things, because it sounds rhetorical. People ask what you did in the 60s about drugs in the community? We shot and we killed drug dealers. I'm not copping to no crime. Those old dope dealers in the past, they didn't use their product, they had clear heads. First, we would go talk to them. We weren't trying to compete in no drug world, take the dope - it was heroin back then - and flush it. But the ones who didn't agree to the principles that we were trying to lay down, that the community had agreed to, they were smoked. I'm sorry, but that's the reality of it. I'm not saying we're going to come out here and smoke somebody. But we had to live our lives for the revolution, but I'll be damned if I'm going to die, that I'm going to have you selling crack to my kids; you're going first! You all know where dope comes from and I can't say enough for the courage of sister Maxine for confronting them - the CIA. We were telling you for years from Folsom, from Q, from Death Row, but the bourgeois people get a little money, they don't want to listen. But now you're forced to listen - because it's affecting your family, your brother, your sister.
We've got a program that doesn't have a contradiction with any "Black" organization that's struggling. If you have contradictions, we have to resolve them. You've got to struggle and avoid vendettas. That can be handled. We have to regain the spirit of unity before we enter the 21st Century. It's a shame if we enter the next century calling Bill Clinton our leader - it's a shame to Bunchy and to everyone who gave their lives for freedom.
We can't deal with personalities. We've got to deal with principles. We don't care about capitalism, we care about freedom. You have people pimping the revolution. Not once did the Black Panthers accept a dollar from the federal government - and they came with big money. They were offering billions of dollars and we would say, get your ass out of the office. I have never talked with the FBI - I'm too busy talking to my nation.
This speech is available on videotape for $10 from:
Justice Vision;1425 West 12th St., Ste. #262 Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 747-6345
Submitted by: Mansa Lutalo lyapo / aka Mr. Rufus West, #225213, P.O. Box 900 (CCI), Portage WI 53901. (8-27-11) Geronimo passed away this year. May his message live on forever.
Amandla! Free the Land! Revolution! Freedom! Uhuru Sasa - that means Freedom Now! We come together as a united nation to fight against our problem. We're Africans, we can do anything, I want to give props to all our queens in struggle, and to my family, and to ya'll, my extended family who sustained me through the years with your support. I've been out of the penitentiary a little over a month and a half, and I'm trying to adopt to ya'll's way of living, but for years, it's a lot different. You know I'm not use to speaking. Most of you who knew me back then saw me on the streets, patrolling these police, trying to bring a message that we're ready to die for what we believe in. Now you all are trying to make a speaker out of me.
And I want to talk to ya'll, because we got some ideas. I'm looking at you all. He was in Folsom with me, he was in Quentin, he was in Soledad with me, she use to help me feed the kids. We patrolled the police at night, and in the morning we were there to feed the children. Because that's something that's very important to understand -- our struggle was based on love! That's what made us so strong, because love is the strongest force there is! We were so in love with our young children that we were ready to take bullets for them, we were ready to die for them.
But while we were keeping the police off our children, we were spoiling them. People said to me in the pen, look at them now, they're spoiled; they don't respect their elders, they don't respect the women, they don't respect themselves, they're listening to the police. You hear this crack shit is coming from the CIA, and yet you're still doing it! What the hell is going on?!
So we didn't realize that while we were giving our lives protecting the children, feeding you all, going without eating, we didn't realize that we were spoiling you. Then when you came in the pen, you get discipline. We need youngsters to understand that real war ain't no joke. A lot of people are talking bulljive and we don't want to hear it, because we've got to be serious about putting together the kind of forces it's going to require to liberate our nation!
I've been to DC, I've been to Philly, to New York, Atlanta, New Orleans; ain't been yet to Dallas or Houston, cities where we had Black Panthers. They're just like this (city). Everyone is so receptive to the principle of revolution right now. So, what do we do about that? There are certain principles we maintained for years in prison and out here on the streets, with people that continued the struggle. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Nation of Islam, all of the groups that have been real in carrying on what we started. I cannot salute you enough, because I know the pressures that have been applied upon you.
In warfare, you have to know your enemy. Until you understand what your enemy is, you'll be killing the wrong person. If a guy sics a killer dog on you, a pack of dogs, you’re going to defend yourself; but you don't turn around the rest of your life hating those dogs, going, "I'm gonna kill those dogs," and your whole life is consumed with those poor dogs, who only did what they were told to do. You have to know who your enemy is. Your enemy is not the dogs; your enemy is the pigs, the pigs sent the dogs! You take the dogs and you put them in your column. You give them some meat, and you turn them and you at them over there, and you get at the pigs; you get at the real enemy.
But it's not easy to know who the real enemy is when you're embroiled in a psychological war. In a psychological war, everything is a lie. It's based on deception. You have various forms of war. We conducted armed struggle on the streets. Walter Pope, John Carr, Sawndre Red - I can name many brothers and sisters who lost their lives conducting armed struggle.
We conducted conventional struggle, defensive struggle, and understood who the real enemy is and how he's coming at you. Right now, and for decades, the enemy has been defeating us through psychological warfare.
He's been tricking you, making you hate each other, making you turn on each other, your brother, your momma, your own family. He's been doing it through all sorts of avenues, and you've got to get hip to it. Lies, deception, gossip, slander, all this he's been generated in the same place the crack is being generated - right in Langley, Virginia.
They come at you with the crack - you know, that's chemical warfare; AIDS - that's biological warfare. You have to understand that various forms of warfare by first understanding your enemy, who would stoop that low. They talk about Saddam Hussein - they've been practicing chemical and biological warfare for decades. Look at what happened at Tuskegee; look at what happened in San Francisco in the 60s (Army germ warfare experiments).
People of my generation know this, but our youngsters don't know this. We're not passing it along to them. You may say, "they never listen." No, they will listen, they do want to learn. We have to take the time. We have to take measures to get across to them, because that's our future, that's who the enemy is targeting; they're targeting our young soldier class.
I’ve been studying war for years - that's why they hate me. All these brothers you see around here patrolled the police. Geronimo didn't start the Panthers in L.A. I'm from the South. Bunchy Carter started the Black Panthers in L.A. Geronimo is not the longest held political prisoner from the Black Panthers. Romaine Chip Fitzgerald, who's still in prison, is the longest held political prisoner in these prisons. I don't want to take credit away from any of these brothers and sisters who fought and died before I came here.
I was in Viet Nam while they were getting killed out here on Montclair and Adams. I came here to help educate and to teach military tactics to the L.A. Panthers, the San Francisco Panthers, the New York Panthers, the Chicago Panthers, all through the South where I came from. New Orleans, Dallas, Houston ... and I've got to get back to all those places, where they say, "you are our homeboy," like I am a homeboy here....
I was in New York, with the New York Panthers, and I said, come in here and lets talk about what is going on. I said, "There is no unity here." They were beautiful brothers, but they allowed a rumor to divide them. I did 27 years, and here it's 1997, and they are still allowing COUNTELPRO-type shit to do this? No, we understand better now. We can't let this happen. We have to set the example. We learn from our mistakes.
COUNTELPRO wasn't no joke. They killed brothers. Putting us in prison ain't nothing. They took lives. They took Bunchy’s life. They took Redd's life, Huey's life, my boy Fred Hampton's life, and I could name and name and name. They made us tell our sister Assata, "Well, we can't get you out of prison, but we have to get you out of the country for a while." We have to decriminalize all that, so Assata, and all those beautiful sisters, can come back not as criminals, but as heroes. Assata is a hero! Nehanda is a hero!
How are we going to do this? People who have done time say,, what is the solution? We can't restrict the legal process within the confines of a foreign government - the United States - who are the descendants of our former slave masters. They're not our presidents, our Supreme Courts. That's bulljive. That's been forced on us! Our solution is to organize our nation! It's the same message Marcus Garvey gave our people in the 20s; it's the same message that Malik el Hajj Shabazz carried on, and that we're still carrying on today. And it's a shame that we haven't done it yet. We thought we'd go into the , next millennium as a free nation.
We have almost 50 million people; that would make us the ninth most populous nation. We have now almost $600 billion going through our nation every year, that would rank us I think the fifth richest nation. We have the
doctors, we have the professors, the technicians. We have everything! And we still don't call ourselves a nation. That's a damn shame.
I can't tell no gang member to respect you when you turn around and bow down to the same sons of bitches that put our ancestors into slavery, and call them, our leaders. I'M sorry, I don't mean no disrespect to our elders and our sisters when I use these extreme words. But I want to drive the point home. After 27 years, how the hell we ain't free? We ain't got our own institutions, our own schools, our own doctors. When I went into the pen, there was a debate between integration and liberation. What did integration get us? Things are worse now than ever for most of our people. The proof of a theory is in the social practice. Liberation is the solution.
I tell them in the pen, "You want to sell drugs? When we liberate. I'm going to give you all the pharmaceutical companies. You all can make all the drugs you want, and you'll own the drug companies."You ask, do we really want to do that? Sure, because I know those brothers aren't going to put those drugs into their children. They'll see them as being medicinal like our ancestors did, as something from the spirit, as Imhotep tried to teach us thousands of years ago. We're going to turn it around and the brother and sister on the street, selling that shit, we're going to put them in charge of the medicine. Don't put them in jail. Don't put anybody in jail! We shouldn't have any jails.
I don't do a lot of talking. I back up what I say. I want to bring out what some of the brothers told me in the pen, Mutulu Shakur, Sekou Odinga, other Black Liberation Army soldiers; when they were busted, they told the pigs, "I am a soldier, this is my name, my rank, my serial number, and that's all you get,” And they're still in jail today, even though they said everything that was required of them by the Geneva Accords, if you are arrested in a war, an insurrection. The U.S. does not recognize us as prisoners of war, and we have to make them. That's a reality. We are at war. Every time a soldier stands up in that war to defend you, if he is attacked, he is supposed to be attacked.... We die for our people. We can do 27 years for our people and not come out and ask for nothing. Our struggle is for the liberation of our people, not to be treated well in the prisons.
Prisons are only a small part of our struggle for liberation. There's other issues, crack in our streets, disrespect for our elders. We used to be able to walk down these streets, old folks 60-70 years old, at night, safely. You let anybody mess with them, we would have got them; if we couldn't have got them, some of the Muslims would have got them, or some of the US (United Slaves) people would have, or the APP.
There's a difference now - they made you hate each other. We went through hell coming up from Louisiana, where they called you colored, Negroes; Kwame Ture, known then as Stokely Carmichael, Kathleen Cleaver, Rap Brown, struggled so hard to make you all understand, that we were no longer Negroes, or colored, we were Black, and they called it the Black Power Movement. Now, this is 1997, and we've grown, we've matured, and through those years some of the greatest minds among us have resolved that we have to cease calling ourselves by an adjective, Black, and we have to be called by a noun, Africans.
We have to get away from shame and fear, and be proud to call ourselves Africans, where life began, where everything evolved from. So we are Africans and we call ourselves New Afrikans, to distinguish ourselves from the mama-land, so this is the new term to identify our nation - New Afrika. Imari Obadele, Chokwe Lumumba, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, were very instrumental in bringing that about, and getting us to understand ourselves, because just like we have to understand our enemy, we also have to understand ourselves. So that self-identification is very important. It goes to our historical personality, based upon our Africanity. It's not based on European-ness, other than it's intrusion by slavery.
When you carry the legacy of the slave-master, you're doing our movement a great disservice. You turn around and give your child the name of this dog that raped your grandmother, and you're giving that child an evil spirit. That's what our ancestors taught us, the power of nommo, the word. You're cursing those children. When they grow up, they may have a first name, Jamal, and the last name of someone who participated in slavery - that won't work. They're going to have that divided consciousness, that social schizophrenia that you see so prevalent, among us, because we are too scared to embrace our ancestry fully, to change both our names and give that legacy to our children so they can carry it on, and not the legacy of our slave-masters.
What a lot of youngsters tell me is that when their elders did take time with them, they were giving them stuff that didn't make sense. So, you elder brothers and sisters, when I say take time with the youngsters, you better give them the real, you better study yourself, come to these meetings, contact somebody and get the knowledge so you can pass it on properly.
Back then, Bunchy and them had to deal with the gangs and gangsters, to change the gangster mentality to a revolutionary mentality. And a lot we can't talk about. We have learned that in the 60s, we ran our mouths a little too much about certain things - but the word will be given to develop certain functions, not because I'm out of prison, but because it's a new trend, a new effort all throughout the country to liberate people, not only in the prison behind the walls, but in the prisons on the other side of the walls. The coming together is sincere, because we know now who we can trust, and we know now who we cannot.
And we cannot do it without you. We understand ourselves as you all; you all understand yourselves as us. We can't see each other as anything apart - I am, therefore we are; we are, therefore I am. The contradictions people see, with people who are in different organizations, have to be understood - don't listen to gossip, rumors, one of our greatest enemies. Hitler started that - or it goes back to Sun Tzu - Hitler and Mussolini would send agents to mingle with the population, and they would tell people that Malcolm X was no good, Elijah Muhammad did this and so, and they got us to killing each other. Among our people, I'm sorry to say, it works more often than not. We have to stop being so eager to hate each other, When we brought in the Black Power movement in the 60s, that was based on love. They said black was ugly; we said Black was beautiful, We began to define our own reality.
When we said Black was beautiful, you would not believe the pride and dignity that swept through our nation. That scared them more than anything. They knew all of the guns, all of the breakfast programs, all the rhetoric, nothing hurt them more than Black people loving each other.
Now, when I went to the pen, I leave the streets, Black was still beautiful. I come back. Blacks hate each other - that trips me out. We even allowed them to come present the old European image - if you don't look like the white man, the white woman, you're ugly. We had made the Black woman, the Black man the standard of beauty. They put a lot of money into promoting that image.
When I left the streets in the 60s, you could ask anybody, we loved each other. So, we had problems - we struggled to resolve those problems, But our main contradiction was with the man. Now our contradictions are among ourselves. We didn't know L.A. to be all these sets fighting with each other. I don't want to repeat these things, because it sounds rhetorical. People ask what you did in the 60s about drugs in the community? We shot and we killed drug dealers. I'm not copping to no crime. Those old dope dealers in the past, they didn't use their product, they had clear heads. First, we would go talk to them. We weren't trying to compete in no drug world, take the dope - it was heroin back then - and flush it. But the ones who didn't agree to the principles that we were trying to lay down, that the community had agreed to, they were smoked. I'm sorry, but that's the reality of it. I'm not saying we're going to come out here and smoke somebody. But we had to live our lives for the revolution, but I'll be damned if I'm going to die, that I'm going to have you selling crack to my kids; you're going first! You all know where dope comes from and I can't say enough for the courage of sister Maxine for confronting them - the CIA. We were telling you for years from Folsom, from Q, from Death Row, but the bourgeois people get a little money, they don't want to listen. But now you're forced to listen - because it's affecting your family, your brother, your sister.
We've got a program that doesn't have a contradiction with any "Black" organization that's struggling. If you have contradictions, we have to resolve them. You've got to struggle and avoid vendettas. That can be handled. We have to regain the spirit of unity before we enter the 21st Century. It's a shame if we enter the next century calling Bill Clinton our leader - it's a shame to Bunchy and to everyone who gave their lives for freedom.
We can't deal with personalities. We've got to deal with principles. We don't care about capitalism, we care about freedom. You have people pimping the revolution. Not once did the Black Panthers accept a dollar from the federal government - and they came with big money. They were offering billions of dollars and we would say, get your ass out of the office. I have never talked with the FBI - I'm too busy talking to my nation.
This speech is available on videotape for $10 from:
Justice Vision;1425 West 12th St., Ste. #262 Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 747-6345
Submitted by: Mansa Lutalo lyapo / aka Mr. Rufus West, #225213, P.O. Box 900 (CCI), Portage WI 53901. (8-27-11) Geronimo passed away this year. May his message live on forever.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
parole denial 2011
(page 1 transcription)(Click on pictures to view larger)
PCAT240
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS Parole Commission DOC-1208 (Rev.09/2008)
WISC PAROLE COMMISSION ACTION
Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 304
Administrative Code Chapter PAC1
OFFENDER NAME
WEST, RUFUS P.
DOC NUMBER
225213
INSTITUTION NAME
Columbia Correctional Institution [CCI]
AGENT NUMBER
30412
TIS No
980 No
RECOMMENDED ACTION TAKEN
Defer (for 12 Months)
NEW FED 09/14/2012
MR/ES 04/14/2018
RECOMMENDED ELIGIBILITY DATE
DATE ACTION TAKEN
07/25/2011
HEARING TYPE
Parole Review
If you are recommended for a parole grant, the time frame within which you shall be released, as established by the chairperson of the Parole Commission, shall be reflected in the grant.
GENERAL REASONS FOR ACTION TAKEN
1. You have NOT served sufficient time for punishment.
2. Your institutional conduct has been satisfactory.
3. Your program participation has NOT been satisfactory.
4. You have developed an adequate plan, but will need Agent's verification.
5. Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public.
PAROLE COMMISSION COMMENTS
You have served 17 years of a 34 year sentence structure for Armed Robbery (Masked), and Poss FA by Felon. This case carries PMR status. The offense occurred in Aug 1994, and involved you approaching a female on the street, holding a gun to her neck and demanding her purse. You had a bandana around your face. You were on parole at the time of this offense for OVWOC (VOP). Offense history dates back to 1990 and reflects similar OVWOC offenses as well as a Robbery offense plead down to Theft from Person with periods of community supervision that ultimately led to revocation. Needless to say, past adjustment on supervision has been problematic. You declined to discuss the dynamics of the robbery, due to pending legal action. Let it be noted that you were originally sentenced to 30 years on this matter, but your sentence was vacated and you were resentenced to 28 years on count one and 6 years CS on count two. During this incarceration, you have struggled with conduct, which is reflected in the multiple MR extensions that extended your MR date by over 3 years. To your credit, your conduct has improved with no major reports in over 4 years. This is encouraged to continue. As far as programming is concerned, you are enrolled in Vocational Education, but reported struggling with the math component. You obtained your HSEU, and remain in need of Anger Management. Utilizing your time well, will assist in determining risk reduction for consideration for reduced security; and the Commission endorses consideration for reduced security. Residence plan lists to temporarily live with a friend in Prairie du Chien, and then transfer to Madison. This would require two area transfers and may not be realistic. Further development of a comprehensive, stable release plan will be necessary when more timeframe appropriate. In the meantime, continued confinement is necessary to address punishment, and also allow for continued improved conduct, eventual transition through reduced security to complete your remaining program need, and demonstrate further risk reduction for opportunities in the community as determined by the site at a reduced security setting.
E. Davidson
Date: 07/25/2011 — Time: 01:58:45 PM
"Language on this form does not reflect changes pursuant to 2009 Wisconsin Act 28."
CAT240
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Parole Commission
DOC-1208 (Rev.09/2008) WICS
PAROLE COMMISSION ACTION
WISCONSIN
Wisconsin Statutes
Chapter 304
Administrative Code
Chapter PAC1
OFFENDER NAME
WEST, RUFUS P.
DOC NUMBER
225213
INSTITUTION NAME
Columbia Correctional Institution [CCI]
AGENT NUMBER IJT1S 30412 ||NO
980
No
RECOMMENDED ACTION TAKEN
Defer (for 12 Months)
NEW FED
09/14/2012
MR/ES
04/14/2018
RECOMMENDED ELIGIBILITY DATE
DATE ACTION TAKEN
07/25/2011
HEARING TYPE
Parole Review
RECOMMENDED CONDITIONS OF SUPERVISION
REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION TYPE COMMENTS
Other The Commission endorses consideration for reduced security. Other The Commission endorses consideration for reduced security.
DUE DATE STAFF
12/31/9999 PROCKNOW, CHRISTINE D
12/31/9999 FAIT, LINDA K
MEMBER
E. Davidson 5363
SIGNATURE
PAROLE COMMISSION CHAIRPERSON
DATE APPROVED
07/25/2011
The recommended action is approved for the stated reasons.
SIGNATURE
File Review
THERE IS NO ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL OF THIS DECISION
DISTRIBUTION: Original - Institution (SS File); Copy - Offender; Copy - Parole Commission; Copy - PRC; Copy - Agent Copy - Field S
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Slavery by Another Name
SLAVERY By Another Name by Mansa Lutalo lyapo -aka- Rufus West.
(Verse #1 ) In the end it's the same song - name gone, replaced with digits to go along with a sentence. - That you will never finish - it's long as hell, you'll die of natural causes before they let you out of jail. People tell to avoid jail cells by any means, honor among thieves and G's (Man please!). If you didn't know these are the sign of the times, a time where signs dictate subliminal minds. - So they can't rise - because to rise is to grow, above what they've dubbed "Psychological Jim Crow." These dudes in the game are slow - fast lane wheels spinning in the sand, because they don't understand.
(Chorus) Slavery by another name - these slaves are penitentiary slaves, time to peep game. Rearrange everything so you can win, because right now all roads lead to the pen. Slavery by another name - these days are penitentiary days, time to peep game. Rearrange everything so you can win, because right now all roads lead to the pen.
(Verse #2) Where the age of a slave is pre-teenage, the "Birth of A Nation" of inner-city slaves. Where they break people's hopes and belief in God, believe me Home Team - I've seen it all. I've seen families broken - dreams straight shattered, people of color treated like our life don't matter. It's time to break this pattern - don't let no one, put you in a predicament where you will go from - Plantation to ghetto - from pyramids to projects, from drugs to prisons to the cemetery - what's next? A generation under siege (Man please!), third eye is blind therefore they can't see.
(Chorus) Slavery by another name - these slaves are penitentiary slaves, time to peep game. Rearrange everything so you can win, because right now all roads lead to the pen. Slavery by another name - these days are penitentiary days, time to peep game. Rearrange everything so you can win, because right now all roads lead to the pen.
Mr. Rufus West, #225213;P.O. Box 900 (CCI);Portage,WI 53901
(Verse #1 ) In the end it's the same song - name gone, replaced with digits to go along with a sentence. - That you will never finish - it's long as hell, you'll die of natural causes before they let you out of jail. People tell to avoid jail cells by any means, honor among thieves and G's (Man please!). If you didn't know these are the sign of the times, a time where signs dictate subliminal minds. - So they can't rise - because to rise is to grow, above what they've dubbed "Psychological Jim Crow." These dudes in the game are slow - fast lane wheels spinning in the sand, because they don't understand.
(Chorus) Slavery by another name - these slaves are penitentiary slaves, time to peep game. Rearrange everything so you can win, because right now all roads lead to the pen. Slavery by another name - these days are penitentiary days, time to peep game. Rearrange everything so you can win, because right now all roads lead to the pen.
(Verse #2) Where the age of a slave is pre-teenage, the "Birth of A Nation" of inner-city slaves. Where they break people's hopes and belief in God, believe me Home Team - I've seen it all. I've seen families broken - dreams straight shattered, people of color treated like our life don't matter. It's time to break this pattern - don't let no one, put you in a predicament where you will go from - Plantation to ghetto - from pyramids to projects, from drugs to prisons to the cemetery - what's next? A generation under siege (Man please!), third eye is blind therefore they can't see.
(Chorus) Slavery by another name - these slaves are penitentiary slaves, time to peep game. Rearrange everything so you can win, because right now all roads lead to the pen. Slavery by another name - these days are penitentiary days, time to peep game. Rearrange everything so you can win, because right now all roads lead to the pen.
Mr. Rufus West, #225213;P.O. Box 900 (CCI);Portage,WI 53901
Monday, September 20, 2010
Convicts Voting Bloc
PRISON POLITICS 101: THE CONVICTS VOTING BLOC (CV)
by Mansa Lutalo lyapo -aka- Mr. Rufus West
August 29, 2010
In the state of Wisconsin, convicts are prohibited from voting until his/her prison, parole or extended supervision time has expired. In the interim thousands of Wisconsin convicts exist without the ability to play a part in shaping social policies that affect them. As a result no substantive prison legislation is being pushed unless it's related to keeping prisoners locked up for unnecessarily long periods or taking something from us. The political culture that exists is that if a politician speaks out on behalf of prisoners he/she is being "soft on crime." It's an effective slogan because most politicians are concerned about staying in office and not doing anything to jeopardize job. Their lackadaisical attitude is furthered by the fact that they know that we are not exercising our political power as a voting Bloc.
Just because we are convicts does not mean that we cease citizens of Wisconsin. Politicians are subordinate to their Citizens. Until the law is changed to allow convicts the right to vote, I propose that we exercise our right to vote via having people we know who are not convicts cast their ballot in our interest. Many of us convicts have Lena Taylor's "Standard Legislative Address Form," which is the form she wants prisoners to use when grieving to her about a certain complaint about prison conditions/legislation. What we fail to realize that she is only one person. Thus, what we have to do is get senators and representatives to step up to the plate.I believe that this can be accomplished via the Convicts voting Bloc (CVB). Through CVB convicts will educate eligible voters ( or direct them to FFUP to get educated) about FFUP's social agenda on prison politics and plug them into FFUP. The Bloc must be established and oiganized to the extent that the participants must be ready to act for the sake of the Community Forgiveness And Reconciliation Movement (CFARM).
For example, in the 1st edition of CFARM's newsletter there was a petition advocating for the release of certain prisoners. This petition was not for convicts to sign. It was for us to send to eligible voters, have them solicit as many signatures of eligible voters, and then have them send the signatures to FFUP. FFUP should receive at least 10,000 signatures, considering that there are tens of thousands of convicts in the state of Wisconsin. After this goal is reached, FFUP will send the petitions all at one time to the Wisconsin legislators.
History has taught me that politicians will uniformly get behind a social agenda when their constituents speak in one loud, single voice. They understand that failure to adhere to their constituents could result in them being replaced at the next election cycle. I believe that we must seize the time right now to support this righteous endeavor. Nobody can punish you for telling your people who are eligible vote in CVB activities. If you think the Wisconsin prison system is bad now, you just don’t
know.. the worst is yet to come.
Mansa Lutalo lyapo
by Mansa Lutalo lyapo -aka- Mr. Rufus West
August 29, 2010
In the state of Wisconsin, convicts are prohibited from voting until his/her prison, parole or extended supervision time has expired. In the interim thousands of Wisconsin convicts exist without the ability to play a part in shaping social policies that affect them. As a result no substantive prison legislation is being pushed unless it's related to keeping prisoners locked up for unnecessarily long periods or taking something from us. The political culture that exists is that if a politician speaks out on behalf of prisoners he/she is being "soft on crime." It's an effective slogan because most politicians are concerned about staying in office and not doing anything to jeopardize job. Their lackadaisical attitude is furthered by the fact that they know that we are not exercising our political power as a voting Bloc.
Just because we are convicts does not mean that we cease citizens of Wisconsin. Politicians are subordinate to their Citizens. Until the law is changed to allow convicts the right to vote, I propose that we exercise our right to vote via having people we know who are not convicts cast their ballot in our interest. Many of us convicts have Lena Taylor's "Standard Legislative Address Form," which is the form she wants prisoners to use when grieving to her about a certain complaint about prison conditions/legislation. What we fail to realize that she is only one person. Thus, what we have to do is get senators and representatives to step up to the plate.I believe that this can be accomplished via the Convicts voting Bloc (CVB). Through CVB convicts will educate eligible voters ( or direct them to FFUP to get educated) about FFUP's social agenda on prison politics and plug them into FFUP. The Bloc must be established and oiganized to the extent that the participants must be ready to act for the sake of the Community Forgiveness And Reconciliation Movement (CFARM).
For example, in the 1st edition of CFARM's newsletter there was a petition advocating for the release of certain prisoners. This petition was not for convicts to sign. It was for us to send to eligible voters, have them solicit as many signatures of eligible voters, and then have them send the signatures to FFUP. FFUP should receive at least 10,000 signatures, considering that there are tens of thousands of convicts in the state of Wisconsin. After this goal is reached, FFUP will send the petitions all at one time to the Wisconsin legislators.
History has taught me that politicians will uniformly get behind a social agenda when their constituents speak in one loud, single voice. They understand that failure to adhere to their constituents could result in them being replaced at the next election cycle. I believe that we must seize the time right now to support this righteous endeavor. Nobody can punish you for telling your people who are eligible vote in CVB activities. If you think the Wisconsin prison system is bad now, you just don’t
know.. the worst is yet to come.
Mansa Lutalo lyapo
To Lead or Not to Lead
TO LEAD OR NOT TO LEAD, THAT IS THE QUESTION
by Mansa Lutalo lyapo -aka- Mr. Rufus WestSeptember 4, 2010
This is a muse-inspired essay.
What is a leader? To me a leader is someone who leads. Every community has leaders of some sort. Unfortunately, for the most part, there are too many misleaders and not enough leaders. The end result is a future of misled individuals who are doomed to mislead the generation after them.
A few days ago a young Brother was stressing a point that he had been locked up since he was 16 years old as a result of crimes that he accepts responsibility for. He also stated, however, that he didn't have "older cats" like myself in his neighborhood to correct him when he was going astray like my generation had. On the contrary, he stated that it was the "older cats" who were giving him the guns and drugs. This type of exposure, he stated, warped his mind to believe that this was the norm. I understood what the young Brother was saying as soon as he said it. What he was saying is that he was taught to act a certain way via learned behavior, which scientists and psychologists like to call, "learned behavior."
Last month I was watching a documentary about severe gun violence in a certain city involving children. The city's police chief commented that kids are not born with guns in their hands and throwing up gang signs. He stated that they learn all of that through "learned behavior." Needless to say I was disappointed that the documentary didn't address the root causes of this learned behavior. For instance, where are these kids getting these semi-automatic handguns and fully automatic assault rifles from? Who is teaching these kids these gang signs?
All across America there is a culture of kids killing kids. Child soldiers posted up on corners or in buildings while packing firearms, Why?Where did they get those marching orders from at 12, 13, and 14 years old? Who told them to shoot all intruders (except law enforcement)? Who taught these kids to kill people because they dress a certain way? Who taught them to kill over an illusion (i.e. street corner or building) that does not even belong to them but belongs to the government? Who taught these kids that school is the opportune place to engage in rival gang violence? Who taught them who their enemy was? Who taught them how to sell dope, rob people, etc.? Where did they learn all of these "learned behaviors?" For those of us who come from the ghetto know the business. They learned from the "older cats."
They learned them the same way that a child is taught to kill his best friend with a machete or an assault rifle because he is a Tutsi and the other a Hutu; the same way that a baby animal in the wild learn to hunt for their food and fend off intruders by watching their elders; the same way that an adult teaches a newborn baby that all races are inferior to his because he is White.
Many people recall the human experiments in the early 20th Century called "classical conditioning." In one experiment, the subject (a White baby boy about 2 years old) was sat on the floor. The staff then placed a white rabbit next to the baby. The baby's curiosity caused it to engage the rabbit by touching it and playing with it. The staff later altered the experiment by placing the rabbit next to the baby, and then 2 seconds later making a sharp, loud noise that would scare the baby and make him cry. They repeated this over and over on numerous occasions to where the baby was conditioned to associate the rabbit with that specific terror. After a while the staff would put the rabbit next to the baby and the baby would immediately start crying and trying to get away from it, despite the fact that the staff never made the loud noise. Other scientists criticized the use of the baby in the experiment, but praised the results as it proved that people are classically conditioned to act and react to things in their lives.
In retrospect, a similar "classical conditioning" experiment is being executed in our communities that are being taught to the children by the "older cats." While one can rightly point the finger at those government agencies who are allowing certain communities to exist in a state of despair, we cannot excuse those "older cats" who are abusing children by giving them marching orders that are designed to inflict harm in the form of felony convictions, prison, and a myriad of psychological problems. My Brother Malik Shabazz (Touissant Harley, #241861) referred to this as "A.I.DS." In his A.I.D.S. essay Malik Shabazz states:
" In my presence daily are hundreds of males who've been infected with an extremely deadly disease called A.I.D.S., but ignorance & unconsciousness had disallowed them to accept & acknowledge the truth related to themselves. As well, females too are not to be forgotten, for they too have A.I.D.S. With this being the case, we have to keep in mind the fact that when our women are impacted, our children are impacted, thus creating a cycle that can last for generations!
This disease has § continues to engulf every aspect of our lives, & if not careful, those of you who are in .mainstream society ,will be under its devastating grasp. Not only are you too surrounded by some who are infected; there's a possibility that this virus has infected you!
The A.I.D.S. that you know about & the A.I.D.S. that I'm speaking of are entirely different, but they both have one thing in common...Death! Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the disease that shocked the world, but Addiction to Incarceration & Death Syndrome is currently crippling certain segments of society & at the same time economically empowering others.
This form of A.I.D.S. is one of the motivating factors behind so many Black males & females & youths being in prison, & I use the word "prison" in the broader sense: dropping out of school; selling drugs; carrying guns; joining gangs; becoming teenage mothers & fathers; stealing; robbing; raping; but more importantly, dying! Subconsciously they're addicted to incarceration & death in their various forms. Surely this is worth thinking about!
When we think about addiction, for the most part we think of drugs, alcohol, gambling & a few other things. But I pose a question.... is corruption addicting? Is negativity addicting? Is a criminal lifestyle addicting? Yes they are!
Why would a person decide to live a criminal lifestyle knowing their destination is prison or the grave? After being released from prison, only a fool will purposely be placed in a situation that will lead them back to prison. After surviving a shootout, stupidity draws a person back to the deadly surroundings...or, is it because they're unknowingly addicted?
This is why incarceration & death must be acknowledged by the public as a legitimate addiction. In every case, prison is not the cure for this form of A.I.D.S., for prison sometimes enhances the disease, leaving some unable to be cured at all!
The public needs to be made aware of this form of A.I.D.S. because there is a cure for it. We can prevent 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17 year-olds from coming to prison for life sentences; 14 year-old girls can be deterred from sleeping with different men to obtain material items & money & recognition; mothers & fathers can once again be the rightful controllers of thair homes; teachers can regain control of the classrooms; neighborhoods can return to being an extended family.
Incarceration & death both come in many forms, meaning the mind & body & spirit. Though one is physically free, at the same time, they can be either mentally dead or incarcerated. Just because your heart beats doesn't Mean your soul is alive!"
As a conscious man, I was compelled to let that young Brother know that it's "our fault" that his generation is in the condition that it's in. When I say "our" I mean my generation. I blame my generation because we had/have an obligation to look after the youngsters the same way that my parents' generation looked after me. My parents' generation learned that from the generation before them, etc. Even though I've been locked up since I was 22 years-old, I still have to shoulder some of the responsibility for the condition of today's youth. The cost of our inaction will likely adversely effect generations to come if no positive leaders stand up and lead. Right now the community is like a house full of kids without any men or woman as guardians. The adults fear the children, which is just wrong on so many levels. The "older cats" need to cease grooming these kids to be urban terrorists. Their exploitation of youngsters to commit crimes for them because they know that the youngsters will get leniency from the judicial system when they're caught is reprehensible.
This disease has § continues to engulf every aspect of our lives, & if not careful, those of you who are in .mainstream society ,will be under its devastating grasp. Not only are you too surrounded by some who are infected; there's a possibility that this virus has infected you!
The A.I.D.S. that you know about & the A.I.D.S. that I'm speaking of are entirely different, but they both have one thing in common...Death! Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the disease that shocked the world, but Addiction to Incarceration & Death Syndrome is currently crippling certain segments of society & at the same time economically empowering others.
This form of A.I.D.S. is one of the motivating factors behind so many Black males & females & youths being in prison, & I use the word "prison" in the broader sense: dropping out of school; selling drugs; carrying guns; joining gangs; becoming teenage mothers & fathers; stealing; robbing; raping; but more importantly, dying! Subconsciously they're addicted to incarceration & death in their various forms. Surely this is worth thinking about!
When we think about addiction, for the most part we think of drugs, alcohol, gambling & a few other things. But I pose a question.... is corruption addicting? Is negativity addicting? Is a criminal lifestyle addicting? Yes they are!
Why would a person decide to live a criminal lifestyle knowing their destination is prison or the grave? After being released from prison, only a fool will purposely be placed in a situation that will lead them back to prison. After surviving a shootout, stupidity draws a person back to the deadly surroundings...or, is it because they're unknowingly addicted?
This is why incarceration & death must be acknowledged by the public as a legitimate addiction. In every case, prison is not the cure for this form of A.I.D.S., for prison sometimes enhances the disease, leaving some unable to be cured at all!
The public needs to be made aware of this form of A.I.D.S. because there is a cure for it. We can prevent 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17 year-olds from coming to prison for life sentences; 14 year-old girls can be deterred from sleeping with different men to obtain material items & money & recognition; mothers & fathers can once again be the rightful controllers of thair homes; teachers can regain control of the classrooms; neighborhoods can return to being an extended family.
Incarceration & death both come in many forms, meaning the mind & body & spirit. Though one is physically free, at the same time, they can be either mentally dead or incarcerated. Just because your heart beats doesn't Mean your soul is alive!"
As a conscious man, I was compelled to let that young Brother know that it's "our fault" that his generation is in the condition that it's in. When I say "our" I mean my generation. I blame my generation because we had/have an obligation to look after the youngsters the same way that my parents' generation looked after me. My parents' generation learned that from the generation before them, etc. Even though I've been locked up since I was 22 years-old, I still have to shoulder some of the responsibility for the condition of today's youth. The cost of our inaction will likely adversely effect generations to come if no positive leaders stand up and lead. Right now the community is like a house full of kids without any men or woman as guardians. The adults fear the children, which is just wrong on so many levels. The "older cats" need to cease grooming these kids to be urban terrorists. Their exploitation of youngsters to commit crimes for them because they know that the youngsters will get leniency from the judicial system when they're caught is reprehensible.
It should be understood that the initial responsibility of a child starts with its parents, or, better yet, from those inside the child's home. But when that child leaves the home, the community ("extended family") is supposed to protect the child. It takes a village to raise a child, which is relevant because nowadays children are birthing children, kids are being raised in single-parent households. Vary rarely does anything good result from such instances because a kid is not equipped to raise a kid, and women are unable to teach boys how to be man the same way that a man is unable to teach a girl how to be a woman. For those of us who have children, we are obligated to stop living for ourselves and start living for our children. Every decision we entertain to engage in criminal activities should be snuffed, if for nothing else, for fear of being taken away (i.e. jailed or murdered) from our children.
Every child deserves to be with both parents. Sadly, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that more than 1.7 million children across America have an imprisoned parent. The percentage of children with an imprisoned father grew by 77% from 1991 through 2007. Adding insult to injury, those children are 2-3 times more likely to end up in prison, according to Christopher Wilrieman, a University of Michigan sociologist with credits on the study of imprisoned parents. I know 4 of those 1.7 million children are mine. I will be the first to admit that my reckless lifestyle made me irresponsible and not with my priorities in order. But that's what happens when a boy (not a man) participates in making a baby. I'm well aware that not all prisoners are guilty of the crimes that they've been charged with, but for those who are guilty need to do some soul searching. Boys can't be fathers, only men. Those 1.7 million kids didn't ask. to be born. Now that they are here we have to lead them by showing them that we won't do anything to jeopardize being taken away from them, or do anything to jeopardize being released early from prison.
For those of us who decided to be leaders, we must teach the youth that every person has 2 educations: 1 that is taught to him, and the other he teaches himself. The former education is mostly taught by the public school system, while the latter is mostly from experience.
As leaders, we must do everything in our power to convince the youth that it's essential for them to take advantage of every opportunity to learn something from the public school system, especially if it involves reading and writing. You can have all of the street smarts in the world but if you're unable to count, read, or write it's a pretty good chance that you'll end up in prison or dead. It stands to reason that employers will not employ illiterates who are unable to fill out a basic job application. Without a job, one will be compelled to get money via illegal means to survive. For housing and automobiles some type of contract must be signed, but, what good is signing your name on something when you don't know what the contract says? If a functional illiterate chooses only street knowledge to survive he will eventually end up in the prison system doing some serious time.
On too many occasions I have witnessed poor and illiterate convicts who were led through the judicial system by an attorney who was just going through the motions and making their clients sign their lives away without even realizing what their signing. Unfortunately, having a poor education is a strong indicator that one will be imprisoned. The numbers for high school dropouts reflect the following statistics: 3 out of every 10 students nationwide; for Blacks, that number is almost half. .According to the 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education, only 47% of Black males graduated from high school in the 2007-2006 school year, compared to 78% for the White males. Estimates show that a Black male drops out of high school every 46 seconds of every school day.
Comparing those school statistics with the statistics for the American prison population you'll find that its prison population consists of the following: 1 out of every 31 adults, 1 out of every 36 Hispanics, 1 out of every 15 Black adults, 1 out of every 9 Black men between the age% of 20 and 34, and 1 out of every 3 Black people will suffer imprisonment at some point in their lives. These numbers show me that the higher the school dropout number the higher the likelihood of being imprisoned. For those who have never been imprisoned, unless you've experienced it you will never be able to imagine how horrible it is. If you believe that your freedom is worth risking then you have a bad case of the A.I.D.S. I'm going to share with you 2 pieces: 1 called "imagine" by Donald Murphy, and the other called "We're All On Death Row" that I wrote:
Imagine
Imagine a world where time stands still,
where nothing you do is of your own free will.
Stripped of your freedom, your hopes, your pride,
surrounded by strangers with no place to hide.
Imagine a place where you're told what to wear,
a place where no one is allowed to grow hair.
You are told each day you're not to talk,
and where and when you can and cannot walk.
a world where you sleep, surrounded by hate,
where all you can do is just sit and wait.
Imagine a world where you have no choice,
where you can't even think because of the noise.
A world where you work but get no pay,
and made, to feel worthless each and every day.
A world where days crawl like a snail,
where all you have hope for is a piece of mail.
A world where you have to eat real quick,
does this sound like a world that would make you sick?
Imagine a world surrounded by wire,
able to walk free from this place is your only desire.
A world like, this is hard to conceive,
yet here I am and cannot leave.
Just Imagine.
We're All On Death Row
In the state of Wisconsin - if ya sentenced to prison,
there's absolutely no guarantee that the next day you'll be livin.
Unlike plantations in other states where ya worry about losin yo life,
by lethal injection, electric chair, or a crusty homemade knife;
the state of Wisconsin has a big ole secret that they don't want us to know,
their secret that they're tryin to hide is that we're all on death row.
This death row that I'm talking about is different from other states,
because at least in those other states yo demise is set by a date.
See here it's totally different since the medical system's so bogus,
a healthy person today could die tomorrow without any given notice.
And don't be no Black person gaspin for air and shakin,
the darkness 'of your skin is a signal for them to say your fakin.
Instead of dyin in minutes you'll suffer at least 1 hour or more,
just look at how long Donald, Michelle, & Kelvin laid on the floor.
Then in come the Spin Doctors sayin "neglect" when it was murder,
& after an "internal investigation" it'll go no further.
and after several weeks the opportunists will lose interest,
i.e. the media & politicians will go on about their business.
Their cry for justice will whither away as if nothin ever happened,
while the executioners come to work every day jokin & laughin.
Nevertheless, I will assert the same thing desperately,
that we must all hang together or, most assuredly, we'll hang separately.
Even though we weren't sentenced to death we must let our people know,
that as long as things are the way they are - we're all on death row.
If to lead or not to lead is the question, then I choose to lead.
Which one do you choose?
Mansa Lutalo lyapo
Imagine a world where time stands still,
where nothing you do is of your own free will.
Stripped of your freedom, your hopes, your pride,
surrounded by strangers with no place to hide.
Imagine a place where you're told what to wear,
a place where no one is allowed to grow hair.
You are told each day you're not to talk,
and where and when you can and cannot walk.
a world where you sleep, surrounded by hate,
where all you can do is just sit and wait.
Imagine a world where you have no choice,
where you can't even think because of the noise.
A world where you work but get no pay,
and made, to feel worthless each and every day.
A world where days crawl like a snail,
where all you have hope for is a piece of mail.
A world where you have to eat real quick,
does this sound like a world that would make you sick?
Imagine a world surrounded by wire,
able to walk free from this place is your only desire.
A world like, this is hard to conceive,
yet here I am and cannot leave.
Just Imagine.
We're All On Death Row
In the state of Wisconsin - if ya sentenced to prison,
there's absolutely no guarantee that the next day you'll be livin.
Unlike plantations in other states where ya worry about losin yo life,
by lethal injection, electric chair, or a crusty homemade knife;
the state of Wisconsin has a big ole secret that they don't want us to know,
their secret that they're tryin to hide is that we're all on death row.
This death row that I'm talking about is different from other states,
because at least in those other states yo demise is set by a date.
See here it's totally different since the medical system's so bogus,
a healthy person today could die tomorrow without any given notice.
And don't be no Black person gaspin for air and shakin,
the darkness 'of your skin is a signal for them to say your fakin.
Instead of dyin in minutes you'll suffer at least 1 hour or more,
just look at how long Donald, Michelle, & Kelvin laid on the floor.
Then in come the Spin Doctors sayin "neglect" when it was murder,
& after an "internal investigation" it'll go no further.
and after several weeks the opportunists will lose interest,
i.e. the media & politicians will go on about their business.
Their cry for justice will whither away as if nothin ever happened,
while the executioners come to work every day jokin & laughin.
Nevertheless, I will assert the same thing desperately,
that we must all hang together or, most assuredly, we'll hang separately.
Even though we weren't sentenced to death we must let our people know,
that as long as things are the way they are - we're all on death row.
If to lead or not to lead is the question, then I choose to lead.
Which one do you choose?
Mansa Lutalo lyapo
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Don't Drink The Koolaid
DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-AID: I'M NOT A NIGGER
by MANSA LUTALO IYAPO -aka- Mr. Rufus West
The phrase, "Don't drink the kool-aid" derived out of a horrible incident that involved a preacher named Jim Jones and his congregation. To make a long story short, Mr. Jones had moved his congregation of dozens of people to a different country from America and convinced them to drink a poison-laced kool-aid under the guise that God had ordered it. The people knew that it was poison, yet they still drank it after they gave their children the poison to drink. The small handful who refused to drink it either escaped or were executed. The end result was a sea of people laying around dead.
This essay is muse-inspired with the focus on the context of the N word, "Nigger."
In 1995 I was imprisoned in the Waupun Correctional Institution's Adjustment Center, better known as "the hole." While in the hole this sergeant asked me, "Why is it okay for you guys to call each other 'niggers' but when a White person calls you a nigger you guys get upset?" I didn't respond but for some reason his question haunted me for the rest of the day. Despite his reputation as being a racist, I was intrigued by the substance of his inquiry no matter how much I tried to avoid it. I tried to avoid it mainly because it was a self-reflection question, i.e., I had to look at myself first and foremost.
My initial response was to be pertinacious in coming up with as many excuses as I could to justify my usage of the word "nigger" as a self-identifying term of endearment, some of which include: I'm calling myself a "nig" or a "nigga", not a "nigger"; my definition of it is a cool person; everybody around me uses it so it must be okay to use. My intransigent attitude was doing everything in its power to kill my rational way of thinking. After a couple of weeks I finally had to acknowledge the reality that that word was insolent all around the board. Having acknowledged this reality, my next question to myself was, "What are you going to do about it?" Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. One day I observed a couple of guards' reaction to a Black prisoner's usage of the word as they were escorting him somewhere within the segregation unit while he was clad in handcuffs and shackles. Almost every other sentence contained the word "nigga" as he used it interchangeably in disrespectful and endearing terms, e.g., "I hate that nigga!" and "I love you, my nigga!" The two White guards' faces turned beet red with embarrassment. I was later escorted somewhere by those same two guards. Their conversation consisted of how Black people use the word "nigger".
Later that night I reflected on all of the above. The most prominent thing that stood out to me was what I would years later learn what author Michelle Alexander would call "preservation through transformation." What I saw was more than a prisoner in a segregation building being escorted somewhere in handcuffs and shackles using the word "nigger". My old soul allowed me to view that as an equivalent to the reality that existed during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, i.e.
a Black man in chains being escorted somewhere by White men. The difference was that the Black man was calling himself a "nigger" instead of the White man calling him one. That scene moved me to take the first step in the direction of unequivocally accepting that word as a disrespectful word. I had to first stop calling myself a "nigger" before I could ask others to refrain from calling me that. It took me a while to undo my 20-something years of Willie Lynch-type programming,especially when all around me the air was saturated with conversations and music using that word as a term of respect.
My new outlook caused me to reflect on my past debates with Brothers from different countries wherein I defended the usage of the word "nigger" as a term of endearment. They probably thought that I was crazy! I wasn't crazy ... just ignorant and stupid. Hence, the truth we see too late hides its evil in our stupidity.
In retrospect, I am a firm believer in that it's not important to say everything we know, but it is important to know everything we say. At some point we are going to have to stop drinking the kool-aid,look in the mirror and say, "I AM NOT A NIGGER”
by MANSA LUTALO IYAPO -aka- Mr. Rufus West
The phrase, "Don't drink the kool-aid" derived out of a horrible incident that involved a preacher named Jim Jones and his congregation. To make a long story short, Mr. Jones had moved his congregation of dozens of people to a different country from America and convinced them to drink a poison-laced kool-aid under the guise that God had ordered it. The people knew that it was poison, yet they still drank it after they gave their children the poison to drink. The small handful who refused to drink it either escaped or were executed. The end result was a sea of people laying around dead.
This essay is muse-inspired with the focus on the context of the N word, "Nigger."
In 1995 I was imprisoned in the Waupun Correctional Institution's Adjustment Center, better known as "the hole." While in the hole this sergeant asked me, "Why is it okay for you guys to call each other 'niggers' but when a White person calls you a nigger you guys get upset?" I didn't respond but for some reason his question haunted me for the rest of the day. Despite his reputation as being a racist, I was intrigued by the substance of his inquiry no matter how much I tried to avoid it. I tried to avoid it mainly because it was a self-reflection question, i.e., I had to look at myself first and foremost.
My initial response was to be pertinacious in coming up with as many excuses as I could to justify my usage of the word "nigger" as a self-identifying term of endearment, some of which include: I'm calling myself a "nig" or a "nigga", not a "nigger"; my definition of it is a cool person; everybody around me uses it so it must be okay to use. My intransigent attitude was doing everything in its power to kill my rational way of thinking. After a couple of weeks I finally had to acknowledge the reality that that word was insolent all around the board. Having acknowledged this reality, my next question to myself was, "What are you going to do about it?" Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. One day I observed a couple of guards' reaction to a Black prisoner's usage of the word as they were escorting him somewhere within the segregation unit while he was clad in handcuffs and shackles. Almost every other sentence contained the word "nigga" as he used it interchangeably in disrespectful and endearing terms, e.g., "I hate that nigga!" and "I love you, my nigga!" The two White guards' faces turned beet red with embarrassment. I was later escorted somewhere by those same two guards. Their conversation consisted of how Black people use the word "nigger".
Later that night I reflected on all of the above. The most prominent thing that stood out to me was what I would years later learn what author Michelle Alexander would call "preservation through transformation." What I saw was more than a prisoner in a segregation building being escorted somewhere in handcuffs and shackles using the word "nigger". My old soul allowed me to view that as an equivalent to the reality that existed during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, i.e.
a Black man in chains being escorted somewhere by White men. The difference was that the Black man was calling himself a "nigger" instead of the White man calling him one. That scene moved me to take the first step in the direction of unequivocally accepting that word as a disrespectful word. I had to first stop calling myself a "nigger" before I could ask others to refrain from calling me that. It took me a while to undo my 20-something years of Willie Lynch-type programming,especially when all around me the air was saturated with conversations and music using that word as a term of respect.
My new outlook caused me to reflect on my past debates with Brothers from different countries wherein I defended the usage of the word "nigger" as a term of endearment. They probably thought that I was crazy! I wasn't crazy ... just ignorant and stupid. Hence, the truth we see too late hides its evil in our stupidity.
In retrospect, I am a firm believer in that it's not important to say everything we know, but it is important to know everything we say. At some point we are going to have to stop drinking the kool-aid,look in the mirror and say, "I AM NOT A NIGGER”
My Most Precious Gift
TIME: MY MOST PRECIOUS GIFT, by MANSA LUTALO IYAPO -aka- Mr. Rufus West
What immediately comes to mind if I asked you to name the most precious gift that you have ever had or have? Some people may name materialistic items (e.g. cars, jewelry, money, clothes, etc.), while others may name things like family, the gift of gab, or some type of intellectual skill. If you would have asked me that question more than 3 months ago I likely would have said my children. I am now convinced, however, that my children are not my most precious gifts. Time is.
The reason why I say that Time is my most precious gift is because no matter what I may possess, if I don't have Time to enjoy that which I have, it means nothing. I learned this via an epiphany that I had after a Brother had mentioned the importance of Time. I was admiring my photos of my children when it dawned on me that while they are indeed my children, I am unable to spend any Time with them because of my imprisonment. It makes no difference how many children a parent has, if they don't have the Time to spend with them it becomes a detached sort of arrangement
Similarly, if you own a favorite car, or 10 cars, but you don't have Time to drive them, how would you feel? Everything that we like or love is meaningless if we don't have Time to enjoy them.
Every fleeting moment of Time that passes is gone forever. In the context of children/parent relationships, Time spent together is the most precious gift that we've been given. Otherwise you all get older without each other and before you know it your children are walking, talking, and as tall as, or even taller than, you are.
That's one type of Time lost. The other type is if a person dies. If you are dead you will not have Time to enjoy the things that you deem precious.
In both examples mentioned above it is clear to me that Time is more precious than anything. If the present did not exist there would be no past or future. The very word "present," while can be defined as Time, it also can be defined as a gift, e.g. a birthday "present," as well as to give, e.g., I "present" you with this present. Ultimately what you have is a never-ending gift that is always being given to you every second that you are alive.
All of this begs the question, if Time is such a gift, why do we abuse this gift by putting ourselves in prison or in situations where we will likely end up dead? I can only speak for myself when I say that in my state of ignorance and mental instability I did not realize that Time was my most precious gift. I was putting other things before Time, not knowing that I was putting the cart before the horse and going nowhere - fast. In other words, instead of thinking that my sixteen " years in prison means sixteen years without my children, I now think in terms of sixteen years and my children have been without their father. Time: my most precious gift.
Dated this 25th day of June, 2010.
MANSA LUTALO IYAPO --aka- Mr. Rufus West, #225213
P.O. Box 900;(CCI)
Portage, WI 53901
What immediately comes to mind if I asked you to name the most precious gift that you have ever had or have? Some people may name materialistic items (e.g. cars, jewelry, money, clothes, etc.), while others may name things like family, the gift of gab, or some type of intellectual skill. If you would have asked me that question more than 3 months ago I likely would have said my children. I am now convinced, however, that my children are not my most precious gifts. Time is.
The reason why I say that Time is my most precious gift is because no matter what I may possess, if I don't have Time to enjoy that which I have, it means nothing. I learned this via an epiphany that I had after a Brother had mentioned the importance of Time. I was admiring my photos of my children when it dawned on me that while they are indeed my children, I am unable to spend any Time with them because of my imprisonment. It makes no difference how many children a parent has, if they don't have the Time to spend with them it becomes a detached sort of arrangement
Similarly, if you own a favorite car, or 10 cars, but you don't have Time to drive them, how would you feel? Everything that we like or love is meaningless if we don't have Time to enjoy them.
Every fleeting moment of Time that passes is gone forever. In the context of children/parent relationships, Time spent together is the most precious gift that we've been given. Otherwise you all get older without each other and before you know it your children are walking, talking, and as tall as, or even taller than, you are.
That's one type of Time lost. The other type is if a person dies. If you are dead you will not have Time to enjoy the things that you deem precious.
In both examples mentioned above it is clear to me that Time is more precious than anything. If the present did not exist there would be no past or future. The very word "present," while can be defined as Time, it also can be defined as a gift, e.g. a birthday "present," as well as to give, e.g., I "present" you with this present. Ultimately what you have is a never-ending gift that is always being given to you every second that you are alive.
All of this begs the question, if Time is such a gift, why do we abuse this gift by putting ourselves in prison or in situations where we will likely end up dead? I can only speak for myself when I say that in my state of ignorance and mental instability I did not realize that Time was my most precious gift. I was putting other things before Time, not knowing that I was putting the cart before the horse and going nowhere - fast. In other words, instead of thinking that my sixteen " years in prison means sixteen years without my children, I now think in terms of sixteen years and my children have been without their father. Time: my most precious gift.
Dated this 25th day of June, 2010.
MANSA LUTALO IYAPO --aka- Mr. Rufus West, #225213
P.O. Box 900;(CCI)
Portage, WI 53901
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
ERRC Emergency Rule wrongheaded
Mansa Lutalo Iyapo’s (-aka- Mr. Rufus West) COMMENTS ON EMERGENCY RULE PAC 1 AND PERMANENT RULE PAC 1
To: Kathryn R. Anderson, DOC March 3, 2010
P.O. Box 7925 Madison, WI 53707
Dear Ms. Anderson,
I am currently a prisoner at the Columbia Correctional Institution (CCI) in Portage, Wisconsin. I have been in prison since 1994 and since that time I have been in front of the parole board, hereinafter the Earned Release Review Commission (ERRC), on 3 separate occasions. Since my imprisonment I have also witnessed hundreds of prisoners grieve about the injustice that they feel they suffered from as a result of an ERRC's decision denying them early release. As such, I have first-hand knowledge of the ERRC's historical background in this respect.
Wisconsin's prison population has 3 main categorical sentence structures: (1) those sentenced under the Old Law (pre-April 1994), (2) Presumptive Mandatory Release (PMR) (April of 1994 to December 31, 1999), and (3) Truth In Sentencing (TIS) I & II (post PMR). Prisoners sentenced under TIS I & II do not have a "parole date" but they are eligible to receive an "early release" to "extended supervision" if they meet a certain criteria. After carefully studying the ERRC's Emergency Rule PAC 1 and Permanent Rule PAC 1, I am convinced that some of its rules will do a disservice to the residents of the state of Wisconsin based on the observations outlined below.
1) First and foremost, I find it alarming that the ERRC is moving to create rules (that will more than likely result in prisoners serving redundant in-prison time) when a disproportionately racial component exists within the state's criminal justice system. According to an article in the October 16, 2008 Wisconsin State Journal newspaper titled, "Too Many Blacks in Jail," although "Wisconsin is overwhelmingly white, blacks and other minorities are disproportionately represented in state correctional facilities." The article breaks down the population to incarceration ratio: "Wisconsin total population. 85% White, 6% Black, 5% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1% Am. Indian. Wisconsin residents in adult correctional facilities, 43% White, 45% Black - Population on Dec. 31, 2006. Wisconsin residents in juvenile correctional facilities. 30% White, 57% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Amer. Indian, 8% Hispanic." The article also cited a Wisconsin-sponsored study that stated that such disparity is "not merely a problem of appearance; it is a calamity that builds on itself." It made reference to a "two-day conference that starts today aims to find solutions to the problem." If nothing else, the aforementioned facts support my assertion that a disproportionate racial component exists within the Wisconsin criminal justice system.
Having established that racial inequality exists within the Wisconsin criminal justice system, the next step is to gauge what effective preventive measures have been taken to balance the scales of justice. "What has been done? What is being done? Is this course of action going to help, harm or maintain the inequality that exists in our criminal justice system?" These are the type of questions that every Wisconsinite should be asking themselves and each other before
focusing on ways to arbitrarily extend a prisoner's in-prison time.
The system that exists now is broke. However,no substantive moves are being done to fix it. Too much dialog without action becomes stagnation. Where are the effects of that "two-day conference" that said newspaper article spoke of? I cannot help but notice that when it was time to deal with racial issues within the criminal justice system, the wheels of action moved at a snail's pace. However, when it comes time to deal with ways that can potentially extend a prisoner's in-prison time, "Emergency" rules are proposed. Where are the "Emergency" rules for curing the racial cancer that is eroding the state's criminal justice system? It goes beyond reason to create "Emergency" rules for peripheral symptoms emanating from a cancerous source that continues to be repudiated. Instead of focusing on "Emergency" rules that extend a prisoner's in-prison time, the focus needs to be on making "Emergency" rules that are conducive to a "Schools Not Prisons" agenda because such an agenda will allow more tax payer dollars to be invested in lifting up, instead of locking up, our communities.
2) Some of the rules in the new PAC 1 Emergency and Permanent
rules will allow the ERRC to arbitrarily deny all prisoners early release without specifying why. Specifically, Emergency and Permanent 'Rules PAC 1 §§ 1.06 (16)(e)1, PAC 1 § 1.06 (16){h), and PAC 1 § 1.07(9). These rules state: "A recommendation for release or a grant or order of release may be made after consideration after [...]the inmate has participated in and has demonstrated sufficient efforts in or recommended programs which have been made available by demonstrating one of the following: The inmate has gained maximum benefit from programs; [...] The inmate has reached a point at which the commission concludes that release would not pose an unreasonable risk to the public and would be in the interest of justice;" "For persons sentenced for offenses committed on or before December 31, 1999, the chairperson may grant or deny parole at any time, if extraordinary circumstances affecting an inmate are documented and verified." The extreme ambiguity in these specific rules sets the stage, for a tsunami of "abuse of discretion" in the ERRC's decision-making. These specific rules need more details to put all concerned parties on notice as to how the rule works. What constitutes "sufficient efforts" ,"maximum benefit", "unreasonable risk", "in the interest of justice" and "extraordinary circumstances"? Without clear definitions to these phrases a prisoner will not be able to comprehend their meaning.
3) Being that the PAC rules are being revised, as stated in State Representative Tamara Grigsby's April 23, 2007 letter to the ERRC Chairman, Alphonso Graham, I too am requesting that PAC 1.06 be revised to allow a prisoner to have 2-3 representatives of their choice at their hearing including but not limited to legal counsel, family members,advocates, and/or spokespersons. This arrangement will be beneficial to both the prisoner and the ERRC, especially if early release is being denied and the prisoner needs a better understanding of the steps needed to obtain release. Having an advocate present may also help the ERRC staff to better understand the support services the prisoner will have available to him or her upon release.
Continuing my agreement with Representative Grigsby's said letter, I am also requesting that PAC 1.06 be amended to develop specific criteria which the ERRC staff must consider when reviewing a prisoner's eligibility for early release by the use of a scoring system or risk assessment tool. The current criterion used by the ERRC is too subjective and does not give prisoners or their families a tangible measurement of the steps a prisoner needs to take in order to achieve release status. Presently, the ERRC lacks a tangible, comprehensive, systematic tool that aids and assists ERRC staff in determining whether or not qualified prisoners are released via early release. Too many prisoners, myself included, are simply told "not enough time served as punishment" as the reason for their denial. Even when other ERRC staff have recommended early release and have documented the steps the prisoner has taken to achieve that status, on several occasions Mr. Graham overrode those affirmative decisions for prisoners who have shown that they deserve early release.
As Representative Grigsby stated in her April 23, 2007 letter, the PAC 1 should adopt a systematic guideline similar to the Structured Decision Making (SDM)model that is currently being used by the Arizona Department of Corrections. While I no longer have a copy of the SDM for you to review, I am hopeful that you will use your extensive resources to obtain a copy of it.
4) Finally, I believe that "retroactively applyinq the ERRC's proposed Emergency and Permanent PAC rules will result in the courts being tied up dealing with litigation alleging that the rules violate the ex post facto law. Thus, said rules should only be applied retroactively if the prisoner waives its retroactive application.
Your consideration of these comments will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely.
MANSA LUTALO IYAPO aka- Rufus West, #225213
P.O. Box 900
(CCI) Portage, WI 53901
File
Representative Tamara Grigsby
Senator Taylor
Wisconsin Public Radio / Attn: Gil HaIstoad
Forma For Understanding Prisons / Attn: Peggy Swan
President Barack Obama
To: Kathryn R. Anderson, DOC March 3, 2010
P.O. Box 7925 Madison, WI 53707
Dear Ms. Anderson,
I am currently a prisoner at the Columbia Correctional Institution (CCI) in Portage, Wisconsin. I have been in prison since 1994 and since that time I have been in front of the parole board, hereinafter the Earned Release Review Commission (ERRC), on 3 separate occasions. Since my imprisonment I have also witnessed hundreds of prisoners grieve about the injustice that they feel they suffered from as a result of an ERRC's decision denying them early release. As such, I have first-hand knowledge of the ERRC's historical background in this respect.
Wisconsin's prison population has 3 main categorical sentence structures: (1) those sentenced under the Old Law (pre-April 1994), (2) Presumptive Mandatory Release (PMR) (April of 1994 to December 31, 1999), and (3) Truth In Sentencing (TIS) I & II (post PMR). Prisoners sentenced under TIS I & II do not have a "parole date" but they are eligible to receive an "early release" to "extended supervision" if they meet a certain criteria. After carefully studying the ERRC's Emergency Rule PAC 1 and Permanent Rule PAC 1, I am convinced that some of its rules will do a disservice to the residents of the state of Wisconsin based on the observations outlined below.
1) First and foremost, I find it alarming that the ERRC is moving to create rules (that will more than likely result in prisoners serving redundant in-prison time) when a disproportionately racial component exists within the state's criminal justice system. According to an article in the October 16, 2008 Wisconsin State Journal newspaper titled, "Too Many Blacks in Jail," although "Wisconsin is overwhelmingly white, blacks and other minorities are disproportionately represented in state correctional facilities." The article breaks down the population to incarceration ratio: "Wisconsin total population. 85% White, 6% Black, 5% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1% Am. Indian. Wisconsin residents in adult correctional facilities, 43% White, 45% Black - Population on Dec. 31, 2006. Wisconsin residents in juvenile correctional facilities. 30% White, 57% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Amer. Indian, 8% Hispanic." The article also cited a Wisconsin-sponsored study that stated that such disparity is "not merely a problem of appearance; it is a calamity that builds on itself." It made reference to a "two-day conference that starts today aims to find solutions to the problem." If nothing else, the aforementioned facts support my assertion that a disproportionate racial component exists within the Wisconsin criminal justice system.
Having established that racial inequality exists within the Wisconsin criminal justice system, the next step is to gauge what effective preventive measures have been taken to balance the scales of justice. "What has been done? What is being done? Is this course of action going to help, harm or maintain the inequality that exists in our criminal justice system?" These are the type of questions that every Wisconsinite should be asking themselves and each other before
focusing on ways to arbitrarily extend a prisoner's in-prison time.
The system that exists now is broke. However,no substantive moves are being done to fix it. Too much dialog without action becomes stagnation. Where are the effects of that "two-day conference" that said newspaper article spoke of? I cannot help but notice that when it was time to deal with racial issues within the criminal justice system, the wheels of action moved at a snail's pace. However, when it comes time to deal with ways that can potentially extend a prisoner's in-prison time, "Emergency" rules are proposed. Where are the "Emergency" rules for curing the racial cancer that is eroding the state's criminal justice system? It goes beyond reason to create "Emergency" rules for peripheral symptoms emanating from a cancerous source that continues to be repudiated. Instead of focusing on "Emergency" rules that extend a prisoner's in-prison time, the focus needs to be on making "Emergency" rules that are conducive to a "Schools Not Prisons" agenda because such an agenda will allow more tax payer dollars to be invested in lifting up, instead of locking up, our communities.
2) Some of the rules in the new PAC 1 Emergency and Permanent
rules will allow the ERRC to arbitrarily deny all prisoners early release without specifying why. Specifically, Emergency and Permanent 'Rules PAC 1 §§ 1.06 (16)(e)1, PAC 1 § 1.06 (16){h), and PAC 1 § 1.07(9). These rules state: "A recommendation for release or a grant or order of release may be made after consideration after [...]the inmate has participated in and has demonstrated sufficient efforts in or recommended programs which have been made available by demonstrating one of the following: The inmate has gained maximum benefit from programs; [...] The inmate has reached a point at which the commission concludes that release would not pose an unreasonable risk to the public and would be in the interest of justice;" "For persons sentenced for offenses committed on or before December 31, 1999, the chairperson may grant or deny parole at any time, if extraordinary circumstances affecting an inmate are documented and verified." The extreme ambiguity in these specific rules sets the stage, for a tsunami of "abuse of discretion" in the ERRC's decision-making. These specific rules need more details to put all concerned parties on notice as to how the rule works. What constitutes "sufficient efforts" ,"maximum benefit", "unreasonable risk", "in the interest of justice" and "extraordinary circumstances"? Without clear definitions to these phrases a prisoner will not be able to comprehend their meaning.
3) Being that the PAC rules are being revised, as stated in State Representative Tamara Grigsby's April 23, 2007 letter to the ERRC Chairman, Alphonso Graham, I too am requesting that PAC 1.06 be revised to allow a prisoner to have 2-3 representatives of their choice at their hearing including but not limited to legal counsel, family members,advocates, and/or spokespersons. This arrangement will be beneficial to both the prisoner and the ERRC, especially if early release is being denied and the prisoner needs a better understanding of the steps needed to obtain release. Having an advocate present may also help the ERRC staff to better understand the support services the prisoner will have available to him or her upon release.
Continuing my agreement with Representative Grigsby's said letter, I am also requesting that PAC 1.06 be amended to develop specific criteria which the ERRC staff must consider when reviewing a prisoner's eligibility for early release by the use of a scoring system or risk assessment tool. The current criterion used by the ERRC is too subjective and does not give prisoners or their families a tangible measurement of the steps a prisoner needs to take in order to achieve release status. Presently, the ERRC lacks a tangible, comprehensive, systematic tool that aids and assists ERRC staff in determining whether or not qualified prisoners are released via early release. Too many prisoners, myself included, are simply told "not enough time served as punishment" as the reason for their denial. Even when other ERRC staff have recommended early release and have documented the steps the prisoner has taken to achieve that status, on several occasions Mr. Graham overrode those affirmative decisions for prisoners who have shown that they deserve early release.
As Representative Grigsby stated in her April 23, 2007 letter, the PAC 1 should adopt a systematic guideline similar to the Structured Decision Making (SDM)model that is currently being used by the Arizona Department of Corrections. While I no longer have a copy of the SDM for you to review, I am hopeful that you will use your extensive resources to obtain a copy of it.
4) Finally, I believe that "retroactively applyinq the ERRC's proposed Emergency and Permanent PAC rules will result in the courts being tied up dealing with litigation alleging that the rules violate the ex post facto law. Thus, said rules should only be applied retroactively if the prisoner waives its retroactive application.
Your consideration of these comments will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely.
MANSA LUTALO IYAPO aka- Rufus West, #225213
P.O. Box 900
(CCI) Portage, WI 53901
File
Representative Tamara Grigsby
Senator Taylor
Wisconsin Public Radio / Attn: Gil HaIstoad
Forma For Understanding Prisons / Attn: Peggy Swan
President Barack Obama
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
NEW EARLY RELEASE POLICY
Re: 'New Prison Policy
DAI (Division of Adult Institutions) Policy #:302.00.09. New Effective Date: 02/16/10. Chapter: 302 Assessment and Evaluation, Security Classification and Sentence Computation. Subject: Certain Early Releases (CET>).
Policy. The Department of Corrections may release to extended supervision (ES) certain persons serving the confinement section of a bifurcated.
Procedure. Eligibility. The inmate is serving the confinement portion of a bifurcated sentence for a misdemeanor or a class F to I felony that is not a violent offense as defined in § 301 .048 (2) (bra) 1 . An inmate who has an active detainer is eligible for CER consideration without meeting the criteria under this paragraph when the detainer is for a sentence imposed in another jurisdiction and the remainder of that sentence is equal to or longer than the remainder of the Wisconsin sentence. B. The prison social worker or DOC agent of record has reason to believe that the inmate will be able to maintain himself/ herself while not confined/on extended supervision without engaging in assaultive activity. C. The release to extended supervision date is not more than 12 months before the inmate's extended supervision eligibility date.
The above excerpts are just a small portion of its 10-pages. Thus, if you believe that you fit the eligibility requirements contact your social worker. For a full copy of the policy contact your prison's library.
Submitted by:
MANSA. LOTALO IYAPO
-aka- Rufus West, 225213
P.O. Box 900 (CCI)
Portage, WI 53901
DAI (Division of Adult Institutions) Policy #:302.00.09. New Effective Date: 02/16/10. Chapter: 302 Assessment and Evaluation, Security Classification and Sentence Computation. Subject: Certain Early Releases (CET>).
Policy. The Department of Corrections may release to extended supervision (ES) certain persons serving the confinement section of a bifurcated.
Procedure. Eligibility. The inmate is serving the confinement portion of a bifurcated sentence for a misdemeanor or a class F to I felony that is not a violent offense as defined in § 301 .048 (2) (bra) 1 . An inmate who has an active detainer is eligible for CER consideration without meeting the criteria under this paragraph when the detainer is for a sentence imposed in another jurisdiction and the remainder of that sentence is equal to or longer than the remainder of the Wisconsin sentence. B. The prison social worker or DOC agent of record has reason to believe that the inmate will be able to maintain himself/ herself while not confined/on extended supervision without engaging in assaultive activity. C. The release to extended supervision date is not more than 12 months before the inmate's extended supervision eligibility date.
The above excerpts are just a small portion of its 10-pages. Thus, if you believe that you fit the eligibility requirements contact your social worker. For a full copy of the policy contact your prison's library.
Submitted by:
MANSA. LOTALO IYAPO
-aka- Rufus West, 225213
P.O. Box 900 (CCI)
Portage, WI 53901
Parole denial
Parole Hearing scheduled for 1-18-08
RE: Parole for Rufus West #225213
Rufus is a prisoner at Columbia Correctional Institution. I have known him from his days at WSPF and visited him throughout his ordeal there. He had trouble following the rules at first due to his physical and mental problems and was severely punished for each infraction. I know him as a fine gentleman with many talents who will be an asset to our society when he is released. He has been conduct report free in these last years and finally is in general population at Columbia. This man has paid dearly for the robbery he was convicted of and I ask you to seriously consider his bid for freedom and grant him parole.
Yours sincerely
Peggy Swan;29631 Wild Rose Drive; Blue River , WI 5358
Rufus West
The nature of this deferral requires the final approval of the Chairperson of the Parole Commission. This is technically your initial parole consideration since your return to prison as a parole violator with new sentences as you waived your initial appearance bade in January of 2002. However, in light of your new sentences for Armed Robbery (Masked) and Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, you have not served sufficient time for punishment. The Armed Robbery that
resulted in a 28 year consecutive prison term involved an armed and masked Robbery of a woman. The firearm possession offense, that resulted in an additional 6 year sentence, involved your having this weapon in your possession and your female victim was pistol whipped. Both of these offenses occurred on different dates but you were on parole for the OAWOC at the time. You have only served about 12 years and 6 months on this new sentence structure. The Armed
Robbery case does carry PMR status and this was discussed with you today. Your problematic conduct record brought you to WSPF as far back as September of 2001. You have accumulated in excess of 80 major tickets and 40 minors. Fortunately, you have not had a major ticket for 2 years now. If you have any hope of working your way out on parole sometime in the future, you will need to stay out of further conduct difficulty, work your way through the Level Program at WSPF", complete your treatment programs and progress through the various levels of reduced security. Right now you have a great deal of work ahead of you to accomplish these goals. Your parole plan will require a change in area of supervision at some future point. Risk of release at this time is clearly unreasonable. MJH/
Comments on parole decision 2006.
On 8-8-94 at 10 p.m. a woman pulled up to her residence, got out of her car, dropped her keys, picked them up and upon standing back up she stated a Black man wearing a bandana as a mask had a gun pointed at her and told her to give him her purse and then turned around and run. She did both.
On 8-8-94 at about 10:30 pm a cop claimed he saw me running hunched over, he went to stop me, I continued running, he chased me, during the chase I tossed the purse and gun (none of my fingerprints were found on the purse or gun). He tackled me and arrested me.
A couple hours later, the cops did an on-scene show-up where they forced me to wear a bandana as a mask. During said show -up she stated I was the robber. She was later given all of her belongings back.
I was subsequently found guilty of masked armed robbery and possession of firearm and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
At my last parole hearing the commissioner stated that I pistol whipped a woman and was convicted of it. That's false. My record contained no such information/allegations, so I don't know where it came from. Even though I was eligible for parole in 2002, I waived it until 2005. The results of my last (which was also my last) parole hearing are attached. Since my last parole hearing I've gotten my HSED ( June 2007) , been released from Supermax ( July 2007), and except for a dubious ticket (still pending appeal decision on the administration level) I haven't caught any tickets. I'm unable to get a job or enroll in vocational programs due to my permanent "no work" status. I have a home to go; I have a job to go to; and most importantly, I have 4 kids to go to. The only thing more precious than my four children are the seconds that pass and I'm not with them. 13 years is a very long time to be in prison, but it's forever when you got children. Society is ready for me and I'm ready for society. The only way to prove that is by releasing me to that society.
RE: Parole for Rufus West #225213
Rufus is a prisoner at Columbia Correctional Institution. I have known him from his days at WSPF and visited him throughout his ordeal there. He had trouble following the rules at first due to his physical and mental problems and was severely punished for each infraction. I know him as a fine gentleman with many talents who will be an asset to our society when he is released. He has been conduct report free in these last years and finally is in general population at Columbia. This man has paid dearly for the robbery he was convicted of and I ask you to seriously consider his bid for freedom and grant him parole.
Yours sincerely
Peggy Swan;29631 Wild Rose Drive; Blue River , WI 5358
Rufus West
The nature of this deferral requires the final approval of the Chairperson of the Parole Commission. This is technically your initial parole consideration since your return to prison as a parole violator with new sentences as you waived your initial appearance bade in January of 2002. However, in light of your new sentences for Armed Robbery (Masked) and Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, you have not served sufficient time for punishment. The Armed Robbery that
resulted in a 28 year consecutive prison term involved an armed and masked Robbery of a woman. The firearm possession offense, that resulted in an additional 6 year sentence, involved your having this weapon in your possession and your female victim was pistol whipped. Both of these offenses occurred on different dates but you were on parole for the OAWOC at the time. You have only served about 12 years and 6 months on this new sentence structure. The Armed
Robbery case does carry PMR status and this was discussed with you today. Your problematic conduct record brought you to WSPF as far back as September of 2001. You have accumulated in excess of 80 major tickets and 40 minors. Fortunately, you have not had a major ticket for 2 years now. If you have any hope of working your way out on parole sometime in the future, you will need to stay out of further conduct difficulty, work your way through the Level Program at WSPF", complete your treatment programs and progress through the various levels of reduced security. Right now you have a great deal of work ahead of you to accomplish these goals. Your parole plan will require a change in area of supervision at some future point. Risk of release at this time is clearly unreasonable. MJH/
Comments on parole decision 2006.
On 8-8-94 at 10 p.m. a woman pulled up to her residence, got out of her car, dropped her keys, picked them up and upon standing back up she stated a Black man wearing a bandana as a mask had a gun pointed at her and told her to give him her purse and then turned around and run. She did both.
On 8-8-94 at about 10:30 pm a cop claimed he saw me running hunched over, he went to stop me, I continued running, he chased me, during the chase I tossed the purse and gun (none of my fingerprints were found on the purse or gun). He tackled me and arrested me.
A couple hours later, the cops did an on-scene show-up where they forced me to wear a bandana as a mask. During said show -up she stated I was the robber. She was later given all of her belongings back.
I was subsequently found guilty of masked armed robbery and possession of firearm and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
At my last parole hearing the commissioner stated that I pistol whipped a woman and was convicted of it. That's false. My record contained no such information/allegations, so I don't know where it came from. Even though I was eligible for parole in 2002, I waived it until 2005. The results of my last (which was also my last) parole hearing are attached. Since my last parole hearing I've gotten my HSED ( June 2007) , been released from Supermax ( July 2007), and except for a dubious ticket (still pending appeal decision on the administration level) I haven't caught any tickets. I'm unable to get a job or enroll in vocational programs due to my permanent "no work" status. I have a home to go; I have a job to go to; and most importantly, I have 4 kids to go to. The only thing more precious than my four children are the seconds that pass and I'm not with them. 13 years is a very long time to be in prison, but it's forever when you got children. Society is ready for me and I'm ready for society. The only way to prove that is by releasing me to that society.
Monday, February 1, 2010
VANGUARDS OF JUSTICE
VANGUARDS OF JUSTICE
by Mansa Lutalo lyapo -aka- Rufus West
Origin of Vanguards of Justice. The origin of the concept of vanguards of justice is nothing new considering the fact that people have always put themselves on the front lines in pursuit of justice. However, the name "Vanguards of Justice" is a name that I came up with to define a prison program that a Columbia Correctional Institution (CCI) staff member (Program Supervisor Mardel Petras) instructed me to draft up for her to consider. Unfortunately, Ms. Petras, and the staff responsible for approving prison programs have refused to approve it.
Who are the Vanguards? The Vanguards are those people who are in prison and not in prison who have made the decision to be on the front lines in pursuit of social justice in the pre-prison, prison, and post-prison communities.
Vanguards of Justice's Plan of Action
1) Taking direct action against the existing racism in our social structure. Today's society is infected with racism that results in majority of its non-White minority citizens to adversely suffer from mass imprisonment, disenfranchisement, social ostracism, inferior education, inferior economical and political advantages, inferior living conditions, and hopelessness. (All of these things are main ingredients for imprisonment.) Many national and state investigations have concluded that 1 in 15 Black adults are in prison; 1 in 9 Black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are in prison; 1 in 4 Black people will suffer imprisonment at some point in their lives; 1 in 36 Hispanics are in prison. Despite said conclusions of racial disparities in the criminal justice system, no action has been taken to implement any of the recommendations that said investigations recommended.
In Milwaukee Wisconsin, Blacks are a minority, representing 25% of its overall population. However, said Blacks disproportionately represent 75% of its county jail population.
There's no consideration as a mitigating circumstance for parole / probation revocations that includes whether the violator lives in a neighborhood infested with prolific alcohol and illegal drug activity. This is important because majority of said revocations involve alcohol and drug abuse, and because prolific alcohol and drug activities are overwhelming only in the inner cities.
Despite unemployment being a contributing factor that leads to imprisonment, nothing has been done to eliminate the 51% of unemployed Black men in Milwaukee. Nor has anything been done to change the fact that said Blacks are 3 times more likely to be unemployed than Whites. Milwaukee ranks second in the nation when it comes to unemployed Black men.
These are some of the issues that Vanguards of Justice will strive to solve via taking the necessary steps to implement some of said recommendations, as well as crating new courses of action that prove to be effective. Vanguards of Justice will also use this same strategy when dealing with any racism that may occur within the prison community.
2) Restoring and implementing justice in the pre-prison
community. Every problem has a source. Majority of those who commit crimes come from crime-infested communities where crime is prevalent, especially in the inner cities. To help solve this crisis, Vanguards of Justice will pinpoint the root causes of prolific crimes, and then address those causes via direct communication with, not only the people of those communities, but also their respective political representatives. In the event that said politicians repudiate or refuse to participate in this problem solving process, Vanguards of Justice will spearhead campaigns to have them voted out of office during the next election cycle.
3) Restoring and implementing justice in the prison community.
Current statistics show that approximately 97% of Wisconsin prisoners will eventually be released from prison. With this in mind, it is more likely than not that prisoners will carry their prison experiences with them upon leaving prison. Similarly, the remaining 3% of prisoners can release their prison experiences from prison via written and verbal communication. To combat the injustices in prison, Vanguards of Justice will assist prisoners in exhausting their administrative, political, judicial, and social remedies. For the record, Vanguards of Justice is not a law firm.
4) Restoring and implementing justice in the post-prison community. The challenges that a former prisoner faces in a post-prison community are huge. These people are sure to suffer immensely from social discrimination. To counter such discrimination, Vanguards of Justice will utilize social and political pressure.
5) Vanguards of Justice Newsletter. Vanguards of Justice will create and publish a self-titled newsletter that focuses on restoring and implementing social justice. The newsletter will be is sued tri-annually.
6) Vanguards of Justice Youth Initiative. In order to safeguard today's youth from pursuing a path that leads to imprisonment, Vanguards of Justice will target said youth, especially at-risk youth, and provide them with a solid mentoring structure that addresses their specific needs. Vanguards of Justice will canvas communities and offer parents said mentoring for their children and, if so, provide them with said, initiative and conduct follow up visits to ensure success.
7) Funding for Vanguards of Justice. Vanguards of Justice's funding will come from individual and non-profit grants. All contributions will be available for viewing via electronic means in order for all concerned to be aware of its financial standing.
The Department of Corrections (DOC) is known for neutralizing certain prisoners (such as myself) who choose to participate in any organized effort for social justice that's not sanctioned by them. Such neutralizing is similar to the goals of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program (Cointelpro), which is essentially to retaliate by silencing the voices of its opposition. Their retaliation includes, but is not limited to, withholding and destroying incoming and outgoing mail; filing false misconduct reports; putting us in the hole or the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (formerly named "Supermax Correctional Institution") indefinitely; physical and verbal abuse; constant cell and property searches; misinformation; and isolation.
Until the recent budget crisis, the non-prison community had a hands-off thinking pattern when it came to prisoners. I don't understand such thinking pattern considering the fact that: (a) Wisconsin prisons are "public" prisons that are run by "public" officials and are accountable to the "public"; (b) it costs the "public" approximately $30,000 in taxes to imprison one prisoner for 1 year. There are approximately 22,000 prisoners in the Wisconsin prison system. If I was a taxpayer, I would consider said, taxes to be an investment in bettering the prisoners so that they will be a positive asset to the overall social structure while in prison, and again once out of prison; (c) when a prisoner wins a lawsuit against said DOC that awards monetary relief, the "public" is taxed to pay that award; and (d) approximately 97% of Wisconsin prisoners will eventually be released back to the "public". I would think that the "public" would want prisoners to be productive citizens instead of being a part of the problem. If the "public" abandons prisoners and the prisoners are abused by DOC staff, the prisoners will internalize said abuse and then take it out on the "public" once released. Marcus Garvey said, "When all else fails to organize the people - conditions will." This is relevant in the sense that despite my (and other prisoners like me) best efforts to get the "public" to focus on their economical investment in prisoners, it is now getting through as a result of financial debt. All of a sudden bills are being proposed to allow for the early release of certain prisoners sentenced under the Truth In Sentencing law to ease said debt. Unfortunately, this is akin to someone pouring water in a bucket full of holes to keep it full instead of fixing the holes. This analogy is based on the fact that: (a) There currently are dozens (if not hundreds) of parole-eligible prisoners who are denied parole year after year despite them not having major behavior issues. They're denied parole because they "have not served sufficient time" or "has not completed all necessary programs", (b) These same prisoners who are in maximum custody prisons are being told that they have no chance of parole until they spend some time in a medium or minimum custody prison (even though there's no rule stating thus). Such logic is akin to a 100-step ladder with a prisoner on every step. No prisoner can get off of the ladder unless the prisoner at the bottom is removed. In this case, some of the prisoners on the lower steps either have life sentences or more prison time than those prisoners on the higher ladder steps. This results in prisoners not being able to got to lower custody prisons because there's no room; because prisoners are serving more prison time than necessary; because lifers with parole eligibility are arbitrarily being denied parole incessantly after they've spent significant time in lower custody prisons; all that the "public" appears to condone by it paying the $30,000 per year and not putting a stop to it. On April 16, 2009, I wrote Governor Doyle and explained to him that releasing prisoners without stopping the root causes of recidivism won't work. I also offered some suggestions of what I believe will be effective. He hasn't responded.
We are all designed to struggle from conception to resurrection. I choose to struggle against social injustice. Will you?
Completed this, 31st day of May, 2009.
Mansa Lutalo lyapo -aka-Mr. Rufus West $225213
P.O. Box 900 (CCI), Portage, WI 53901
by Mansa Lutalo lyapo -aka- Rufus West
Origin of Vanguards of Justice. The origin of the concept of vanguards of justice is nothing new considering the fact that people have always put themselves on the front lines in pursuit of justice. However, the name "Vanguards of Justice" is a name that I came up with to define a prison program that a Columbia Correctional Institution (CCI) staff member (Program Supervisor Mardel Petras) instructed me to draft up for her to consider. Unfortunately, Ms. Petras, and the staff responsible for approving prison programs have refused to approve it.
Who are the Vanguards? The Vanguards are those people who are in prison and not in prison who have made the decision to be on the front lines in pursuit of social justice in the pre-prison, prison, and post-prison communities.
Vanguards of Justice's Plan of Action
1) Taking direct action against the existing racism in our social structure. Today's society is infected with racism that results in majority of its non-White minority citizens to adversely suffer from mass imprisonment, disenfranchisement, social ostracism, inferior education, inferior economical and political advantages, inferior living conditions, and hopelessness. (All of these things are main ingredients for imprisonment.) Many national and state investigations have concluded that 1 in 15 Black adults are in prison; 1 in 9 Black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are in prison; 1 in 4 Black people will suffer imprisonment at some point in their lives; 1 in 36 Hispanics are in prison. Despite said conclusions of racial disparities in the criminal justice system, no action has been taken to implement any of the recommendations that said investigations recommended.
In Milwaukee Wisconsin, Blacks are a minority, representing 25% of its overall population. However, said Blacks disproportionately represent 75% of its county jail population.
There's no consideration as a mitigating circumstance for parole / probation revocations that includes whether the violator lives in a neighborhood infested with prolific alcohol and illegal drug activity. This is important because majority of said revocations involve alcohol and drug abuse, and because prolific alcohol and drug activities are overwhelming only in the inner cities.
Despite unemployment being a contributing factor that leads to imprisonment, nothing has been done to eliminate the 51% of unemployed Black men in Milwaukee. Nor has anything been done to change the fact that said Blacks are 3 times more likely to be unemployed than Whites. Milwaukee ranks second in the nation when it comes to unemployed Black men.
These are some of the issues that Vanguards of Justice will strive to solve via taking the necessary steps to implement some of said recommendations, as well as crating new courses of action that prove to be effective. Vanguards of Justice will also use this same strategy when dealing with any racism that may occur within the prison community.
2) Restoring and implementing justice in the pre-prison
community. Every problem has a source. Majority of those who commit crimes come from crime-infested communities where crime is prevalent, especially in the inner cities. To help solve this crisis, Vanguards of Justice will pinpoint the root causes of prolific crimes, and then address those causes via direct communication with, not only the people of those communities, but also their respective political representatives. In the event that said politicians repudiate or refuse to participate in this problem solving process, Vanguards of Justice will spearhead campaigns to have them voted out of office during the next election cycle.
3) Restoring and implementing justice in the prison community.
Current statistics show that approximately 97% of Wisconsin prisoners will eventually be released from prison. With this in mind, it is more likely than not that prisoners will carry their prison experiences with them upon leaving prison. Similarly, the remaining 3% of prisoners can release their prison experiences from prison via written and verbal communication. To combat the injustices in prison, Vanguards of Justice will assist prisoners in exhausting their administrative, political, judicial, and social remedies. For the record, Vanguards of Justice is not a law firm.
4) Restoring and implementing justice in the post-prison community. The challenges that a former prisoner faces in a post-prison community are huge. These people are sure to suffer immensely from social discrimination. To counter such discrimination, Vanguards of Justice will utilize social and political pressure.
5) Vanguards of Justice Newsletter. Vanguards of Justice will create and publish a self-titled newsletter that focuses on restoring and implementing social justice. The newsletter will be is sued tri-annually.
6) Vanguards of Justice Youth Initiative. In order to safeguard today's youth from pursuing a path that leads to imprisonment, Vanguards of Justice will target said youth, especially at-risk youth, and provide them with a solid mentoring structure that addresses their specific needs. Vanguards of Justice will canvas communities and offer parents said mentoring for their children and, if so, provide them with said, initiative and conduct follow up visits to ensure success.
7) Funding for Vanguards of Justice. Vanguards of Justice's funding will come from individual and non-profit grants. All contributions will be available for viewing via electronic means in order for all concerned to be aware of its financial standing.
The Department of Corrections (DOC) is known for neutralizing certain prisoners (such as myself) who choose to participate in any organized effort for social justice that's not sanctioned by them. Such neutralizing is similar to the goals of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program (Cointelpro), which is essentially to retaliate by silencing the voices of its opposition. Their retaliation includes, but is not limited to, withholding and destroying incoming and outgoing mail; filing false misconduct reports; putting us in the hole or the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (formerly named "Supermax Correctional Institution") indefinitely; physical and verbal abuse; constant cell and property searches; misinformation; and isolation.
Until the recent budget crisis, the non-prison community had a hands-off thinking pattern when it came to prisoners. I don't understand such thinking pattern considering the fact that: (a) Wisconsin prisons are "public" prisons that are run by "public" officials and are accountable to the "public"; (b) it costs the "public" approximately $30,000 in taxes to imprison one prisoner for 1 year. There are approximately 22,000 prisoners in the Wisconsin prison system. If I was a taxpayer, I would consider said, taxes to be an investment in bettering the prisoners so that they will be a positive asset to the overall social structure while in prison, and again once out of prison; (c) when a prisoner wins a lawsuit against said DOC that awards monetary relief, the "public" is taxed to pay that award; and (d) approximately 97% of Wisconsin prisoners will eventually be released back to the "public". I would think that the "public" would want prisoners to be productive citizens instead of being a part of the problem. If the "public" abandons prisoners and the prisoners are abused by DOC staff, the prisoners will internalize said abuse and then take it out on the "public" once released. Marcus Garvey said, "When all else fails to organize the people - conditions will." This is relevant in the sense that despite my (and other prisoners like me) best efforts to get the "public" to focus on their economical investment in prisoners, it is now getting through as a result of financial debt. All of a sudden bills are being proposed to allow for the early release of certain prisoners sentenced under the Truth In Sentencing law to ease said debt. Unfortunately, this is akin to someone pouring water in a bucket full of holes to keep it full instead of fixing the holes. This analogy is based on the fact that: (a) There currently are dozens (if not hundreds) of parole-eligible prisoners who are denied parole year after year despite them not having major behavior issues. They're denied parole because they "have not served sufficient time" or "has not completed all necessary programs", (b) These same prisoners who are in maximum custody prisons are being told that they have no chance of parole until they spend some time in a medium or minimum custody prison (even though there's no rule stating thus). Such logic is akin to a 100-step ladder with a prisoner on every step. No prisoner can get off of the ladder unless the prisoner at the bottom is removed. In this case, some of the prisoners on the lower steps either have life sentences or more prison time than those prisoners on the higher ladder steps. This results in prisoners not being able to got to lower custody prisons because there's no room; because prisoners are serving more prison time than necessary; because lifers with parole eligibility are arbitrarily being denied parole incessantly after they've spent significant time in lower custody prisons; all that the "public" appears to condone by it paying the $30,000 per year and not putting a stop to it. On April 16, 2009, I wrote Governor Doyle and explained to him that releasing prisoners without stopping the root causes of recidivism won't work. I also offered some suggestions of what I believe will be effective. He hasn't responded.
We are all designed to struggle from conception to resurrection. I choose to struggle against social injustice. Will you?
Completed this, 31st day of May, 2009.
Mansa Lutalo lyapo -aka-Mr. Rufus West $225213
P.O. Box 900 (CCI), Portage, WI 53901
Monday, November 9, 2009
LET THOSE PEOPLE GO!!!
To: Whom it may concern
LET THOSE PEOPLE GO!!!
Marcus Garvey said, "When all else fails to organize the people - conditions will." The "conditions" relevant to this writing are the deliberately arbitrary practices used to deny parole-eligible prisoners parole. The facilitators of said practices are the Department of Corrections (DOC) and. various state politicians. The unfortunate recipients of said practices are prisoners who fit into 1 of 3 categories: (1) Old Law Parole (pre-April 1994); Old New Law Presumptive Mandatory Release (PMR) date (from 1994 to December.31, 1999); and Truth In Sentencing I (from January 1, 2000 to 2003). Although people have advocated for years to address said practices, those in charge of correcting them repudiated them until they realized- that it was too expensive to continue. The breakdown of said 3 categories are as follows:
1) Old Law Parole (pre-April 1994). Under this law, anyone sentenced to prison would be eligible for parole after serving 25% of his / her prison sentence. Prisoners sentenced to life with parole would be eligible for parole after serving a little more than 13 years. Under this law, a high percentage of prisoners were paroled either by parole grant (with good behavior) or once they've reached their 'laudatory Release (MR) date. Parole defers for non-lifers ware mostly 12 or 24 months, while lifers could, not receive more than 12-month defers (by DOC rules).
2) Old New Law PMR (post April 1994 to December 31, 1999). On April 28, 1994, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson wrote the than DOC Secretary stating in pertinent part:
LET THOSE PEOPLE GO!!!
Marcus Garvey said, "When all else fails to organize the people - conditions will." The "conditions" relevant to this writing are the deliberately arbitrary practices used to deny parole-eligible prisoners parole. The facilitators of said practices are the Department of Corrections (DOC) and. various state politicians. The unfortunate recipients of said practices are prisoners who fit into 1 of 3 categories: (1) Old Law Parole (pre-April 1994); Old New Law Presumptive Mandatory Release (PMR) date (from 1994 to December.31, 1999); and Truth In Sentencing I (from January 1, 2000 to 2003). Although people have advocated for years to address said practices, those in charge of correcting them repudiated them until they realized- that it was too expensive to continue. The breakdown of said 3 categories are as follows:
1) Old Law Parole (pre-April 1994). Under this law, anyone sentenced to prison would be eligible for parole after serving 25% of his / her prison sentence. Prisoners sentenced to life with parole would be eligible for parole after serving a little more than 13 years. Under this law, a high percentage of prisoners were paroled either by parole grant (with good behavior) or once they've reached their 'laudatory Release (MR) date. Parole defers for non-lifers ware mostly 12 or 24 months, while lifers could, not receive more than 12-month defers (by DOC rules).
2) Old New Law PMR (post April 1994 to December 31, 1999). On April 28, 1994, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson wrote the than DOC Secretary stating in pertinent part:
I recently proposed and subsequently signed, into law a bill to end. mandatory parole for violent offenders in Wisconsin. In enacting that important change, legal counsel advised that any retroactive change in the lav; would be unconstitutional. [...] I believe that mandatory release of violent criminals is wrong. That is why I called, a Special Session of the legislature in 1987 to pass a "life means life" sentencing bill, and that is why I moved to end. mandatory parole for violent offenders this year.
In order to implement this policy as full as possible, I hereby direct the Department of Corrections to pursue any and all available legal avenues to block the release of violent offenders who have reached their mandatory release date. The policy of this Administration is to keep violent offenders in prison as long as possible under the law.
Following the enactment of said law, accompanied by the incessant pressure by the governor's office, prisoners under this law, and said Old Law, began to serve extremely longer sentences despite exhibiting a pattern of behavior deserving of parole. Prisoners who reach their MR dates are categorically denied under the guise of boilerplate reasons that have no ground to stand on. Defers became longer extending to more than 70 months.
Despite this law not being retroactive, recent court records show prisoner litigation alleging that the DOC is applying it retroactively to Old. Law prisoners via giving them defers longer than 12 months, as well as not allowing their families to attend their parole hearings, and not conducting parole hearings before a 3-person panel that considers itself an advocate for the parole applicant society. See Sanders v Graham, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS (W.D. Wis. 2009); Sanders v Graham, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23123 (W.D. Wis. 2009).
In short, prisoners are illegally, and arbitrarily being denied the opportunity for early release. In compliance with Tommy Thompson's directive to "block the release" of prisoners is still being practiced today. Such blocks include, but are not limited to, claiming that the prisoner hasn't served "sufficient time;" or the "prisoner has not completed all program needs;" or the prisoner (if in a Maximum Custody prison) has to spend some time in a Medium Custody and Minimum Custody prison prior to release (even though there are no rules stating thus). The first reason is clearly arbitrary.
The second reason is arbitrary because it pushes the responsibility onto the Program Review Committee (PRC), which is a DOC section responsible for approving prisoners' transfers to Medium Custody and Minimum Custody prisons where most of said programs are located, which affects Maximum Custody prisoners the most because they are stuck in Maximum Custody until prisoners in the lower custody prisoners are moved around in order to make bed space.
The last reason is arbitrary because, like in the preceding paragraph, it pushes the responsibility onto PRC in the sense that prisoners can only go to lower custody prisons only with the approval of PRC; the obvious congestion of prisoners being let out of prison prevents prisoners from being moved to lower custody prisons. In other words, a prisoner's transfer to z. lower custody orison defends on whether a person in said orison is either moved to a different prison (by PRC) or paroled by the parole board. To make matters worse, there are prisoners who will be in the lower custody prisons for a long time either because they have a life sentence, or because they have been sentenced, under said Truth In Sentencing Law. Surely said, prisoners deserve to be at said, lower custody prisons, however, their placement of imprisonment should not be able to hinder another ' prisoner ' s progress through the prison system.
3) Truth In Sentencing I (from January 1, 2000 to 2003)
So much has been said, about this issue that I feel that•
everything has already been said, insofar as why this law is not working. I will say that I am in agreement with doing something to allow prisoners an incentive for early release via an effective and fair parole system.
There are currently approximately 22,000 prisoners in Wisconsin. Consequently, it costs approximately $30,000 par year to imprison 1 person. That's $30,OQO that tax payers are forced to pay. As a tax payer, I demand that my money be used in a manner that's designed to rehabilitate prisoners so that they can be a positive asset to our society. Once these prisoners have demonstrated that they are ready to be released, then they should be released, instead of imprisoned as a result of the above arbitrary reasons (or other arbitrary reasons). Understand that using my tax dollars to fund said reasons are in violation of the state's misappropriation laws applicable to any person or persons conspiring, through action or inaction, to facilitate said violations. For starters, I demand that the current Parole Chairman, Alphonso Graham, be replaced with a former Parole Chairman named John Hutsz or someone with the same concept for parole as he has. With a personality like that heading the parole office, all other things will likely fall into place, Next, I demand an investigation into why said arbitrary reasons are being used and no one is doing anything about correcting them. And finally, I demand a comprehensive answer to this communique, not just some perfunctory response. As a tax payer and a voter I have the right to demand that aggressive measures be taken to cure the aforementioned social injustices. I also expect to be made aware of the conclusion to your investigation into said injustices.
Thank you for your time. Your sincere attention to all of the above will be appreciated. .
Sincerely,
Sunday, November 8, 2009
A.I.D.S. Addiction to Incarceration & Death Syndrome
A.I.D.S.
In my presence daily are hundreds of males who've been infected with an extremely deadly disease called A.I.D.S., but ignorance & unconsciousness has disallowed them to accept& acknowledge the truth related to themselves. As well, females too are not to be forgotten, for they too have A.I.D.S. With this being the case, we have to keep in mind the fact that when our women are impacted, our children are impacted, thus creating a cycle that can last for generations!
This disease has & continues to engulf every aspect of our lives, & if not careful, those of you who are in mainstream society will be under its devastatingrasp. Not only are you too surrounded by some who are infected, there's a possibility that this virus has infected you!
The A.I.D.S that you know about & the A.I.D.S. that I'm speaking of are entirely different, but they both have one thing in common ... Death! Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the disease that shocked the world, but Addiction to Incarceration & Death Syndrome is currently crippling certain segments of society & at the same time economically empowering others.
This form of A.I.D.S. is one of the motivating factors behind so many Black males & females & youths being in prisons, & I use the word "prison" in the broader sense: dropping out of school; selling drugs; carrying guns; joining gangs; becoming teenage mothers & fathers; stealing; robbing; raping; but more importantly, dying! Subconsciously they're addicted to incarceration & death in their various forms. Surely this is worth thinking about!
When we think about addiction, for the most part we think of drugs, alcohol, gambling & a few other things. But I pose a question .... is corruption addicting? Is negativity addicting? Is a criminal lifestyle addicting? Yes they are!
Why would a person decide to live a criminal lifestyle knowing their destination is prison or the grave? After being released from prison, only a fool will purposely be placed in a situation that will lead them back to prison. After surviving a shootout, stupidity draws a person back to the same deadly surroundings .... or, is it because they're unknowingly addicted?
This is why incarceration & death must be acknowledged by the public as a legitimate addiction. In every case, prison is not the cure for this form of A.I.D.S., for prison sometimes enhances the disease, leaving some unable to be cured at all!
The public needs to be made aware of this form of A.I.D.S. because there is a cure for it. We can prevent 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17-year-olds from coming to prison with life sentences; 14-year-old girls can be deterred from sleeping with different men to obtain material items & money & recognition; mothers & fathers can once again be the rightful controllers of their homes; teachers can regain control of the classrooms ; neighborhoods can return to being an extended family.
Incarceration & death both come in many forms, meaning the mind, body & spirit. Though one is physically free, at the same time, they can be either mentally dead or incarcerated. Just because your heart beats doesn't mean your soul is alive!
So A.I.D.S. affects a person in many different ways, & in one way or another, with this being a capitalistic country, & with this country having more people incarcerated than any other country, "you are" affected in such a way. I say this based on the fact that I once had this deadly disease, but was blessed with a cure in the form of Al-lslam, & it not only altered my life, it saved my life.
Unfortunately, you have some who will never be cured or know if they're infected. This is why you have kids killing, kids coming to prison, kids selling & doing drugs, kids having kids, kids carrying fully automatic machine guns ft kids just being criminals! This is due to them being raised by and around and associating with those infected with A.I.D.S. Now they must be cured before it's too late! - -
I challenge everyone who has read this information to assist myself & others in putting a stop to this disease. If this challenge is not accepted, then I know with certainty that those who are not attempting to prevent the spreading of A.I.D.S. are major factors in its continuing growth!
For too many years many have talked about the problems amongst us &what needs to be done, & talking is good if it is your actions that speak for you. So, do you really want to talk about A.I.D.S.?
by Brother Malik Shabazz
a.k.a.Touissant L Harley #241861
CCI; PO Box 900
Portage, WI 53901
In my presence daily are hundreds of males who've been infected with an extremely deadly disease called A.I.D.S., but ignorance & unconsciousness has disallowed them to accept& acknowledge the truth related to themselves. As well, females too are not to be forgotten, for they too have A.I.D.S. With this being the case, we have to keep in mind the fact that when our women are impacted, our children are impacted, thus creating a cycle that can last for generations!
This disease has & continues to engulf every aspect of our lives, & if not careful, those of you who are in mainstream society will be under its devastatingrasp. Not only are you too surrounded by some who are infected, there's a possibility that this virus has infected you!
The A.I.D.S that you know about & the A.I.D.S. that I'm speaking of are entirely different, but they both have one thing in common ... Death! Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is the disease that shocked the world, but Addiction to Incarceration & Death Syndrome is currently crippling certain segments of society & at the same time economically empowering others.
This form of A.I.D.S. is one of the motivating factors behind so many Black males & females & youths being in prisons, & I use the word "prison" in the broader sense: dropping out of school; selling drugs; carrying guns; joining gangs; becoming teenage mothers & fathers; stealing; robbing; raping; but more importantly, dying! Subconsciously they're addicted to incarceration & death in their various forms. Surely this is worth thinking about!
When we think about addiction, for the most part we think of drugs, alcohol, gambling & a few other things. But I pose a question .... is corruption addicting? Is negativity addicting? Is a criminal lifestyle addicting? Yes they are!
Why would a person decide to live a criminal lifestyle knowing their destination is prison or the grave? After being released from prison, only a fool will purposely be placed in a situation that will lead them back to prison. After surviving a shootout, stupidity draws a person back to the same deadly surroundings .... or, is it because they're unknowingly addicted?
This is why incarceration & death must be acknowledged by the public as a legitimate addiction. In every case, prison is not the cure for this form of A.I.D.S., for prison sometimes enhances the disease, leaving some unable to be cured at all!
The public needs to be made aware of this form of A.I.D.S. because there is a cure for it. We can prevent 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17-year-olds from coming to prison with life sentences; 14-year-old girls can be deterred from sleeping with different men to obtain material items & money & recognition; mothers & fathers can once again be the rightful controllers of their homes; teachers can regain control of the classrooms ; neighborhoods can return to being an extended family.
Incarceration & death both come in many forms, meaning the mind, body & spirit. Though one is physically free, at the same time, they can be either mentally dead or incarcerated. Just because your heart beats doesn't mean your soul is alive!
So A.I.D.S. affects a person in many different ways, & in one way or another, with this being a capitalistic country, & with this country having more people incarcerated than any other country, "you are" affected in such a way. I say this based on the fact that I once had this deadly disease, but was blessed with a cure in the form of Al-lslam, & it not only altered my life, it saved my life.
Unfortunately, you have some who will never be cured or know if they're infected. This is why you have kids killing, kids coming to prison, kids selling & doing drugs, kids having kids, kids carrying fully automatic machine guns ft kids just being criminals! This is due to them being raised by and around and associating with those infected with A.I.D.S. Now they must be cured before it's too late! - -
I challenge everyone who has read this information to assist myself & others in putting a stop to this disease. If this challenge is not accepted, then I know with certainty that those who are not attempting to prevent the spreading of A.I.D.S. are major factors in its continuing growth!
For too many years many have talked about the problems amongst us &what needs to be done, & talking is good if it is your actions that speak for you. So, do you really want to talk about A.I.D.S.?
by Brother Malik Shabazz
a.k.a.Touissant L Harley #241861
CCI; PO Box 900
Portage, WI 53901
Program Review Denial documents
These documents give the Doc's reason's for denying parole. Click on picure to view and read. Transcribed text will be added soon.
Appeal of Parole Denial
Below is a picture of 2009 appeal by Mansa Lutalo Iyapo, followed by a scanned reading of the document
10-29-09
Dear Taxpayer, et'al
The purpose of this letter is to educate you on how the Department of Corrections (DOC) is misappropriating your hard earned tax dollars to further a process that you may not be aware of.
The process that I'm speaking of is a process whereby the DOC keeps its prisoners in prison longer than necessary, in turn costing you more money, via its Program Review Committee (PRC). The purpose of the PRC is to determine what programs a prisoner needs; what prison a prisoner will be imprisoned in; and ultimately how long a prisoner will stay in prison, as the PRC and the Parole Board rely on each other's records when making their decisions about a prisoner's fate.
Due to my limited resources, I can only give you 3 examples of how this PRC is arbitrary and kangaroo.
The first example is me. To avoid being redundant, I've provided you with my last parole papers from 2008 and my PRC papers from 2009. As you can see, the Board states: It is also important that you[...] transition to reduced security, including an opportunity in a minimum security institution. All of this will help to lower your risk level, and allow for the possibility of release prior to your mandatory release date in June of 2018." (Emphasis added underlined, mine.) Now, keep in mind that the only way that I can get to "reduced security" or to a "minimum security institution" is via said PRC. A review of said PRC papers reflects that the PRC staff (whom I've never met)- recommended that I stay here in a maximum custody prison, even though I've been eligible for medium for years, and have only been written 1 bad Conduct Report (CR) (in 2007 alleging that I received a magazine from a prisoner without staff's permission and subsequently denied receiving it) since 2003! The PRC's arbitrary decision to keep me in a maximum security prison for another 12 months went against the recommendations of my social worker - and all other prison staff who are frequently around me - to send me to a medium custody prison:
Staff Appraisal and Recommendations (Pre-Hearing) Recommending medium custody at PLCI based on sentence structure and positive institution adjustment. He received no tickets during this review period and his last major ticket is from 11/12/07. He is not able to seek employment based on his "no work status" from HSU. He is doing well on the housing unit. He is a graduate of the fall 2008 Restorative Justice Program.
Despite said appraisal/recommendations, the PRC still decided to keep me in a maximum custody prison.
As you can see, my appeal of the PRC's arbitrary decision was arbitrarily denied on 10-9-09. The reasons?
Decision in compliance with DOC 302; Current Offense/History; Dynamics of crime/violations; Sentence; Time likely to be served.ES 6/2018 - Dynamics of offense and violation. Recent adjustment positive - continue to monitor in general population to next recall for further consideration at that time.
These vague and perfunctory reasons are not legitimate because they don't address my situation specifically. I base this on the fact that there is no nexus between me being transferred to a medium custody prison and my sentence structure being "ES 6/2018," considering the fact that I was eligible for parole as early as 2003, i.e., how can I be eligible for release to the street in 2003 by the judge who sentenced me to prison but not eligible for transfer to a medium custody prison in 2009 by PRC staff? The facts clearly show that the PRC staff are superseding the judge's authority, and also abusing their own authority, in determining how long I spend in prison. Prison officials are prohibited from punishing prisoners for crimes that resulted in their imprisonment. My punishment was 28 years in prison with the possibility for parole after 7 years if my behavior warranted such. Said punishment was issued by the judge in 1996 for the crimes that I was convicted of (masked armed robbery). The reason why such questions are essential is because they expose the abuse of authority that the DOC displays via a strategic efforts designed to keep prisoners in prison as long as possible (even though they're eligible for release), which adversely effects you because it's your tax dollars that are being used to ensure said criminal misconduct. If a prisoner's sentence structure and behavior qualifies him for release, then he should not be hindered by DOC staff.
My second example of said arbitrary PRC decisions is concerning a fellow prisoner named Aaron Alien. In Mr. Alien's case, he saw PRC in April of 2009, at which time they gave him a 6-month recall, i.e. in 6 months renew your request for transfer to a medium custody prison. However, when Mr. Alien renewed said request in 6 months, the PRC denied him again and shockingly gave him a 12-month recall, even though nothing changed during that time! The crazy part about that is the fact that the reasons that they used to give him a 6-month recall, they also used to give him a 12-month recall 6 months later!
You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. In other words,the truth knocks the brains out of falsehood every single time.
My last, but not least, example of an arbitrary PRC decision is concerning a fellow prisoner named Larry Johnson. Mr. Johnson's ordeal deserves some history in order to appreciate the context of the PRC's abuse of authority. Mr. Johnson's journey starts at the juvenile Ethan Alien School (EAS), where he earned a certain certificate. From there he was transferred into the adult DOC and eventually ended up at the Kettle Moraine Institution (KMCI).
In July of 2008, while at KMCI, Mr. Johnson was charged by KMCI staff with Theft, and Counterfeiting and Forgery because he was in possession of some Seal Stickers (Theft) and because of the mistaken belief that his said certificate wasn't authentic (Counterfeiting and Forgery). Since his advocate refused to call his former EAS social worker to verify the authenticity of said certificate, the KMCI found him guilty of said charges, sentenced him to 180 days Disciplinary Separation, and subsequently transferred him to the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF), formerly named "Supermax Correctional Institution," via said PRC. Said transfer prevented Mr. Johnson from completing his college correspondence courses, thus he had to fill out an "incomplete" for that semester, i.e. he had to wait until the end of the next semester to complete that class.
Mr. Johnson was eventually transferred here (CCI), where the CCI college correspondence liaison told him that they don't have the course materials here for said class that he filed an "Incomplete" on (even though this program is taken throughout the entire DOC. Mr. Johnson was enrolled in said program since 2006 and had maintained a 4.0 GPA. As a result of not being able to finish said course it turned into a "U", i.e. a failing grade, which lowered his GPA. Unfortunately, this damage to his GPA discouraged him from enrolling in any other classes.
In late 2009, Mr. Johnson attended a PRC hearing and was told that his conduct and sentence structure qualified him to be transferred to a minimum custody prison. At that time Mr. Johnson only had 3 months left on his prison sentence, thus said PRC decided thus to ensure that he receive some necessary programming at said minimum prison to assist him in transitioning smoothly back into the non-prison community. Unfortunately, said recommendation was overturned by the PRC's so-called "Classification Specialist" (who's stationed in Madison, Wisconsin),
who ordered that Mr. Johnson stay here in CCI until he's released from prison. Why? Because Mr. Johnson would be released from the prison system in December of 2009! In other words, since Mr. Johnson is going home soon he doesn't deserve the tools necessary that will help him transition back into the non-prison community, or the tools necessary to ensure that he doesn't contribute to the high recidivism rate. Common sense would tell you that the DOC should be doing everything in their power to ensure that prisoners being released are equipped with the tools necessary to have an opportunity to succeed. They clearly missed their J mark in this case.
If your question after reading this is: "What can I do to stop these arbitrary decisions?", I can only answer with what I would do if I was in your shoes. I would start by finding out who my state legislators are by contacting the Wisconsin Legislative Switchboard (1-800-362-9472). I would then contact said legislator ( s) , including Senator Lena Taylor, and inform them about this information and then ask that they investigate it. I would tell them that if said information proved to be accurate, that they intervene via having the State's Legislative Audit Bureau (22 E. Mifflin St., Suite 500, Madison, WI 53703) audit all of the PRC decisions for the past 5 years in order to determine what measures to take to ameliorate the PRC's process. Finally, I would continue to play an active role in ensuring that the DOC is not misappropriating my tax dollars, and ensuring that it holds steadfast to the definition of "Corrections" in its label Department of Corrections.
Every year millions of your tax dollars are being wasted on a department (Department of Corrections) that's designed to have you spending money on a failed system. It costs $30,000 per year to house 1 prisoner. The PRC's arbitrary decisions are, for the most part, designed to keep prisoners in prison even though they're ready to be released, or hinder a prisoner from the tools needed to prevent him from coming back to prison once released. In either case, you're the one paying the bill.
Your attention to this matter is imperative and will be greatly appreciated.
MANSA LUTALO IYAPO -aka- Mr. Rufus West #225213,
P.O. Box 900 (CCI), Portage WI 53901
Dear Taxpayer, et'al
The purpose of this letter is to educate you on how the Department of Corrections (DOC) is misappropriating your hard earned tax dollars to further a process that you may not be aware of.
The process that I'm speaking of is a process whereby the DOC keeps its prisoners in prison longer than necessary, in turn costing you more money, via its Program Review Committee (PRC). The purpose of the PRC is to determine what programs a prisoner needs; what prison a prisoner will be imprisoned in; and ultimately how long a prisoner will stay in prison, as the PRC and the Parole Board rely on each other's records when making their decisions about a prisoner's fate.
Due to my limited resources, I can only give you 3 examples of how this PRC is arbitrary and kangaroo.
The first example is me. To avoid being redundant, I've provided you with my last parole papers from 2008 and my PRC papers from 2009. As you can see, the Board states: It is also important that you[...] transition to reduced security, including an opportunity in a minimum security institution. All of this will help to lower your risk level, and allow for the possibility of release prior to your mandatory release date in June of 2018." (Emphasis added underlined, mine.) Now, keep in mind that the only way that I can get to "reduced security" or to a "minimum security institution" is via said PRC. A review of said PRC papers reflects that the PRC staff (whom I've never met)- recommended that I stay here in a maximum custody prison, even though I've been eligible for medium for years, and have only been written 1 bad Conduct Report (CR) (in 2007 alleging that I received a magazine from a prisoner without staff's permission and subsequently denied receiving it) since 2003! The PRC's arbitrary decision to keep me in a maximum security prison for another 12 months went against the recommendations of my social worker - and all other prison staff who are frequently around me - to send me to a medium custody prison:
Staff Appraisal and Recommendations (Pre-Hearing) Recommending medium custody at PLCI based on sentence structure and positive institution adjustment. He received no tickets during this review period and his last major ticket is from 11/12/07. He is not able to seek employment based on his "no work status" from HSU. He is doing well on the housing unit. He is a graduate of the fall 2008 Restorative Justice Program.
Despite said appraisal/recommendations, the PRC still decided to keep me in a maximum custody prison.
As you can see, my appeal of the PRC's arbitrary decision was arbitrarily denied on 10-9-09. The reasons?
Decision in compliance with DOC 302; Current Offense/History; Dynamics of crime/violations; Sentence; Time likely to be served.ES 6/2018 - Dynamics of offense and violation. Recent adjustment positive - continue to monitor in general population to next recall for further consideration at that time.
These vague and perfunctory reasons are not legitimate because they don't address my situation specifically. I base this on the fact that there is no nexus between me being transferred to a medium custody prison and my sentence structure being "ES 6/2018," considering the fact that I was eligible for parole as early as 2003, i.e., how can I be eligible for release to the street in 2003 by the judge who sentenced me to prison but not eligible for transfer to a medium custody prison in 2009 by PRC staff? The facts clearly show that the PRC staff are superseding the judge's authority, and also abusing their own authority, in determining how long I spend in prison. Prison officials are prohibited from punishing prisoners for crimes that resulted in their imprisonment. My punishment was 28 years in prison with the possibility for parole after 7 years if my behavior warranted such. Said punishment was issued by the judge in 1996 for the crimes that I was convicted of (masked armed robbery). The reason why such questions are essential is because they expose the abuse of authority that the DOC displays via a strategic efforts designed to keep prisoners in prison as long as possible (even though they're eligible for release), which adversely effects you because it's your tax dollars that are being used to ensure said criminal misconduct. If a prisoner's sentence structure and behavior qualifies him for release, then he should not be hindered by DOC staff.
My second example of said arbitrary PRC decisions is concerning a fellow prisoner named Aaron Alien. In Mr. Alien's case, he saw PRC in April of 2009, at which time they gave him a 6-month recall, i.e. in 6 months renew your request for transfer to a medium custody prison. However, when Mr. Alien renewed said request in 6 months, the PRC denied him again and shockingly gave him a 12-month recall, even though nothing changed during that time! The crazy part about that is the fact that the reasons that they used to give him a 6-month recall, they also used to give him a 12-month recall 6 months later!
You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. In other words,the truth knocks the brains out of falsehood every single time.
My last, but not least, example of an arbitrary PRC decision is concerning a fellow prisoner named Larry Johnson. Mr. Johnson's ordeal deserves some history in order to appreciate the context of the PRC's abuse of authority. Mr. Johnson's journey starts at the juvenile Ethan Alien School (EAS), where he earned a certain certificate. From there he was transferred into the adult DOC and eventually ended up at the Kettle Moraine Institution (KMCI).
In July of 2008, while at KMCI, Mr. Johnson was charged by KMCI staff with Theft, and Counterfeiting and Forgery because he was in possession of some Seal Stickers (Theft) and because of the mistaken belief that his said certificate wasn't authentic (Counterfeiting and Forgery). Since his advocate refused to call his former EAS social worker to verify the authenticity of said certificate, the KMCI found him guilty of said charges, sentenced him to 180 days Disciplinary Separation, and subsequently transferred him to the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF), formerly named "Supermax Correctional Institution," via said PRC. Said transfer prevented Mr. Johnson from completing his college correspondence courses, thus he had to fill out an "incomplete" for that semester, i.e. he had to wait until the end of the next semester to complete that class.
Mr. Johnson was eventually transferred here (CCI), where the CCI college correspondence liaison told him that they don't have the course materials here for said class that he filed an "Incomplete" on (even though this program is taken throughout the entire DOC. Mr. Johnson was enrolled in said program since 2006 and had maintained a 4.0 GPA. As a result of not being able to finish said course it turned into a "U", i.e. a failing grade, which lowered his GPA. Unfortunately, this damage to his GPA discouraged him from enrolling in any other classes.
In late 2009, Mr. Johnson attended a PRC hearing and was told that his conduct and sentence structure qualified him to be transferred to a minimum custody prison. At that time Mr. Johnson only had 3 months left on his prison sentence, thus said PRC decided thus to ensure that he receive some necessary programming at said minimum prison to assist him in transitioning smoothly back into the non-prison community. Unfortunately, said recommendation was overturned by the PRC's so-called "Classification Specialist" (who's stationed in Madison, Wisconsin),
who ordered that Mr. Johnson stay here in CCI until he's released from prison. Why? Because Mr. Johnson would be released from the prison system in December of 2009! In other words, since Mr. Johnson is going home soon he doesn't deserve the tools necessary that will help him transition back into the non-prison community, or the tools necessary to ensure that he doesn't contribute to the high recidivism rate. Common sense would tell you that the DOC should be doing everything in their power to ensure that prisoners being released are equipped with the tools necessary to have an opportunity to succeed. They clearly missed their J mark in this case.
If your question after reading this is: "What can I do to stop these arbitrary decisions?", I can only answer with what I would do if I was in your shoes. I would start by finding out who my state legislators are by contacting the Wisconsin Legislative Switchboard (1-800-362-9472). I would then contact said legislator ( s) , including Senator Lena Taylor, and inform them about this information and then ask that they investigate it. I would tell them that if said information proved to be accurate, that they intervene via having the State's Legislative Audit Bureau (22 E. Mifflin St., Suite 500, Madison, WI 53703) audit all of the PRC decisions for the past 5 years in order to determine what measures to take to ameliorate the PRC's process. Finally, I would continue to play an active role in ensuring that the DOC is not misappropriating my tax dollars, and ensuring that it holds steadfast to the definition of "Corrections" in its label Department of Corrections.
Every year millions of your tax dollars are being wasted on a department (Department of Corrections) that's designed to have you spending money on a failed system. It costs $30,000 per year to house 1 prisoner. The PRC's arbitrary decisions are, for the most part, designed to keep prisoners in prison even though they're ready to be released, or hinder a prisoner from the tools needed to prevent him from coming back to prison once released. In either case, you're the one paying the bill.
Your attention to this matter is imperative and will be greatly appreciated.
MANSA LUTALO IYAPO -aka- Mr. Rufus West #225213,
P.O. Box 900 (CCI), Portage WI 53901
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