Anarchy Live!

March 11-14, 2016

What began as a confrontation between prisoners from different regions of Alabama – namely, B’ham and Montgomery, with B’ham being the largest – escalated into two short riots against the pigs. After the prisoners squashed the beef among themselves without any violence, two pigs ran into C-dorm, which houses 114 prisoners and was informed that there was no problem and everything was under control.

One pig (Tate) tried to bogart his way through a crowd of prisoners and was immediately stabbed a number of times. After the two pigs ran out the dorm, one bloodied the warden, Carter Davenport, who has a reputation as an extremely sadistic, disrespectful, and nasty scumfuck fascist, who was recently removed from his post as warden at St. Clair maximum security prison for assaulting a prisoner, and reassigned as warden at Holman in 2015. He was stabbed after entering C-dorm like some kind of god.

Prisoners went on a joyous spree of fucking things up. Windows were bust, mesh wire kicked out, control units seized, keys found in one control unit, dorms opened up to let other prisoners out, fires set, barricades set up. Prisoners in C-dorm started shooting videos on cell phones, calling the media and family.

By Saturday morning, the riot team was on site and preparing to enter with shotguns and in full gear. They eventually entered the prison in riot gear, carrying the shotguns. We have no defense against guns, so everyone returned to their dorms, but the riot team didn’t enter from the front but the back door of C-dorm, shooting their tear gas. Eventually everyone was restrained in plastic cuffs and moved to another building while half of the riot team returned to the dorms to search for knives, cellphones, and those who participated in the rebellion, and to simply trash and destroy our property. They destroyed our locker boxes, threw our property all over the place, confiscated commissary products, plastic bowls, cups, etc. Everyone was eventually moved back to their dorms and made to lay down on steel bunks. Things were quiet until new mesh wire was replaced, new locks replaced. The pigs placed a chain and locks on dorm cell doors to keep us in.

Prisoners started talking about getting their shit together and relating to each other differently. After the riot team left the premises, prisoners in C-dorm started organizing squads to attack those prisoners who were stealing. After beating one prisoner for stealing, the pigs tried to enter the dorm to get those prisoners who did the beating. All the prisoners in C-dorm started throwing whatever they could find at the pigs, and the second riot was underway, with the new mesh wire kicked out, chained door broken open, control units retaken, fires reset, etc.

Again, the riot team re-entered the prison, eventually restraining everyone with plastic cuffs, marched us all outside onto the basketball court while the dorm was searched again. While handcuffed behind our backs with our faces against the fence, the riot team started grabbing us randomly from behind and throwing us on the concrete basketball court and beating us. We were eventually returned to our dorm. We received no medical care, even thought it was obvious that some of us needed medical attention.

Not everyone took part in the riots. As a matter of fact, only one dorm really participated. Two of the dorms, the so-called “Old Folks” dorm (D) and the “New Beginning” dorm (A) vehemently refused to participate and actually threatened some prisoners who tried to open their door. They placed a chain and lock on their dorm door to keep us out. Prisoners in A dorm used their cell phones to call prison officials to notify them that they were not involved in the rebellion.

Subsequently, the media entered the prison with the governor and other officials and attempted to write their own narrative as to why the rebellion took place. They chalk it all up to overcrowding, but prisoners themselves know that the real cause of the rebellion was/is about freedom from domination and control. There is much more to say about the dynamics of the rebellion and will be written by those who participated and not the fascist scumfuck pigs or corporate media.

At the time of this writing, things are quiet, but the prisoners in C-dorm still refuse to allow the pigs to become comfortable and are still rebellious. People have disappeared, one is in a coma, the prison is on lockdown until June it’s reported, and there is still to be more transfers. But right now, the spirit of rebellion continues. It ain’t over yet.

Rebel greetings:

I just wanted to take some time to let everyone know what’s been up with me. Well, as you know, I’m in lockup right now so I’ve been reading a lot (thanks to you all who have been sending zines, journals my way) and writing to stay in touch with comrades and the world out there. It’s easy to forget there’s an out there. And a lot of thinking. I hope this is coherent because my thoughts are jumbled.

You know, we have been so caught up in the resistance against the pigs (police killed 172 people in the first 2 months of 2015) that it seems as though we’re so distracted that we haven’t given much attention to all the transwomen that have been murdered just in these first few months of 2015. Over 10 beautiful transwomen have been murdered and at least 7 of them are people of color. The numbers are not as high as the pig killings, but enough to warrant, at least, mention and an analysis in the Black and radical media. Many of these transwomen were active in resistance in the movements taking place right now. I’ve perused the many different publications I receive regularly and nowhere is any mention made of these murders except one, the SF Bayview newspaper, and that was in the context of another Black person murdered by the pigs. Not that transwomen aren’t also systematically murdered by in the US just for being transwomen and not conforming to heterosexual notions of life. Transwomen are being hunted just as young Black males are. So I understand when some transwomen say they are not fighting for change, but to survive. Although these transwomen were not killed by pigs alone, the same twisted, bigoted, racist logic that Black people lives are worthless and of no value holds true when it comes to trans and queers. I’m especially angry with the Black and radical media for not reporting and raging at the least about this genocide. I’ve only become aware of this from reading queer and punk magazines.

Then you have this sicko in California who is an attorney calling for the legalization of killing queers. This sick society must be destroyed. The patriarchal and racist system of domination, slavery, and control attempts to destroy what it can’t understand, exploit, and control. LGBTQ folks please, please protect yourself. This world wants you dead. Don’t make it easy for these pieces of shit.

Speaking of shit, a stomach virus swept through the prison. I wasn’t spared so I was constantly on the toilet for 3 days. Then F.A.M. called for another shutdown (workstrike) to begin on March 1, 2015, but only St. Clair prison answered the call, and only for 3 days. I started a hungerstrike on the 2^nd day of the strike to show my solidarity with the strikers. I didn’t get word until the 9^th that the strike had ended on the 3^rd day. I don’t know why it was ended when it was supposed to have been indefinite, but I hear that it was a test run and I’m also hearing that St. Clair is on quarantine because of a widespread breakout of STDs. Back in February 2015 we had a National Call-in Day to demand that prisoners be allowed condoms to fight against the spread of STDs. Their response, that prisoners are not allowed to have sex, but everyone knows that it’s one of the major stress relievers and pastimes in prison.

A comrade recently sent me the zine “War on Patriarchy, War on the Death Technology” on the urban guerrilla group Direct Action. I’m really digging it because not only does it give clear and insightful analysis of the politics of patriarchy and capitalism, but in light of recent rebellions taking place in the US and the subsequent attacks on police by young Black rebels, it’s easy to see the possible trajectory this could take, urban guerrilla formations. I hope the young Black brotha that has been arrested for the attack on the Ferguson police are receiving solidarity and support from anarchists. I don’t really give a fuck about the title of Political Prisoner/P.O.W. but many people do, and if anyone deserves the title it is the young Black rebel. He’s in jail for allegedly attacking the police by shooting them in retaliation for the murder of Mike Brown by police and the non-indictment of the police who shot Mike Brown. He’s a prisoner of war (P.O.W.). If we believe in our own rhetoric that there is a war going on and that one of the targets of this war are Black people; if he did attack these pigs he was only engaging the enemy, the opposing force in this war on people that look like him. Anyway, the strategy and tactics mentioned in this zine, which I won’t give away here, but I think we all should take as instructive for above ground and underground rebels.

Also, I’m doing a little research on prisoners being used as guinea pigs by universities, the state, pharmaceutical companies, etc., in experiments. There has been many such instances such as the Oregon state prison, Washington state, NY, Statesville experiments. People don’t really hear about this exploitation of prisoners’ bodies for profit and control. So, if you have any info on this, please send it to me. I can’t receive books but Xerox pages are OK, just not too many at one time unless in zine form.

I think I’ll end this here, they are about to start showers.

FIRE TO THE PRISONS,
RAZE THE WALLS,
LOVE AND RAGE!
Michael