Category: Uncategorized

We learned today from one of our inside organizers that the commissary at MCI-Norfolk suddenly removed bottled water as an item that can be ordered by folks who are incarcerated.

This comes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that has already killed 3 incarcerated people in MA. Folks behind the wall are forced to pay for sufficient hygiene products, cannot practice physical distancing, are punished for wearing homemade masks, and are confined to their units 24 hours a day under a new lockdown order in all MA prisons this past weekend.

Given well-documented water contamination at MCI-Norfolk, we demand answers and that free bottled water, protective equipment, and hygiene products be given to people inside immediately.

We need your help:

1) Please call MCI-Norfolk using the call script below immediately and magnify our demands. Comment below when you have made the calls!

2) We also amplify our sisters’ demands from Building Up People Not Prisons, take action with them today as well: tinyurl.com/maweekofaction

MCI Norfolk Superintendent
508-660-5900 x211

DOC Commissioner, Carol Mici
508-422-3302
carol.mici@state.ma.us

Hello, my name is ___________. I’m calling because I am alarmed to hear that bottled water has been removed as an option on commissary at MCI-Norfolk. This is unacceptable and incarcerated people and their loved ones deserve answers. Why did this happen?

In light of the pandemic, will you commit to doing everything in your power to distribute sufficient free bottled water, hygiene products, and protective equipment to the people in your care immediately?

***Please read this urgent letter from one of our incarcerated friends and organizers, Michael Mauney (aka Country), who is at extremely high risk of dying of COVID-19 once the virus gets into MCI-Norfolk. We ask you to share this post and write to DA Rachael Rollins to secure his release. We must #FreeCountry and #FreeThemAll.***

—

“To all of my family, friends, and supporters:

I truly appreciate the love and support that all of you have shown to me throughout the years. These almost two decades have been full of trials and tribulations, but also have been marked by some joyous moments of happiness. No matter the struggles, we have been through and almost seen it all, even if only for a moment. I have cherished and learned from you all. For that I am forever grateful.

In the wake of the current Covid-19 pandemic there has been a national conversation around decarcerating the prison population. Due to the inability of incarcerated persons to practice social distancing, the lack of quality medical care and lack of available hygiene resources to combat a potential outbreak inside the walls, prison is ripe and ready to erupt with the spread of the corona virus. Many District Attorneys, Legislators, Community Leaders, Activist, Educators, and Parole departments are in support of releasing incarcerated persons who pose no physical threat to society. They are also in support of releasing incarcerated persons that have been deemed as vulnerable populations due to health issues such as heart disease, asthma, and diabetes among others.

Today I am advocating that I be released from prison on parole in order to preserve my life in response to the danger of the covid-19 pandemic. From the beginning I have taken responsibility and accountability by pleading guilty to the harms I committed. However, due to my ignorance and misguidance of the law at the time, I was given an excessive “from and after” sentence structure which extended my possibly of being eligible for parole after serving 15 years. If my sentence was fixed, it would qualify me to have a parole hearing immediately, but due to the crisis I am asking to be seen earlier than my expected date of 2027.

Because I am a parole eligible lifer, according to pending legislation my case should be screened for possible release on parole. My prison record is impeccable as I have been any thing but short in being a model incarcerated person. I have completed nearly every program the Department of Corrections offers and even have served in leadership roles in most of them. These programs include but are not limited to African American Coalition Committee, Norfolk Inmate Council Education Committee, Restorative Justice Group, Correctional Recovery Academy, and Jericho Circle. I have also successfully completed two vocational programs with earned licences in both (barbering and welding) from Massachusetts Barber Board and the Massachusetts Highway and Bridge Division respectfully. Furthermore, I recently graduated with a Bachelor Degree with Magna Cum Laude honors from Boston University’s Prison Education Program. Therefore, I am fully rehabilitated and do not pose a threat to public safety due to the many tools that have been taught to me in order of not re-offending.

In addition to the plethora of work put into bettering myself for the future, I fit the definition to the letter of what the C.D.C. has determined who is the most vulnerable populations of succumbing to the Covid-19 crisis. On February 15, 2019 at the age of 40, I had a heart attack and a stint was placed into the right-coronary artery which showed 79% blockage at the time. Soon after my hospitalization it was determined that I have heart disease. I am currently listed as chronic care and am being treated with medication for hypertension, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, prediabetes, asthma, and other minor illnesses. If the virus makes it behind the wall
and I contract it it will likely put me down.

Here is where I need you all:

I am asking that you all write letters in addition to emailing and/or calling the Suffolk County District Attorneys Office in support of my immediate release on parole as a result of my vulnerability to the Corona virus. As I am currently housed in the state of Massachusetts which has become a hot-bed for the spread of the Covid-19, I am asking to be paroled/released to my uncle’s and aunt’s home (Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Friday) in the state of Kentucky. I am asking that you all advocate to the District Attorney’s to have my consecutive sentencing structure fixed to concurrent to make me truly eligible now. In your letters I ask you to include not only the language written throughout this call to action but please include some of the following:

• What is your relationship me?
• How long have you known me?
• If any, what impact have I had in your life?
• Why do you feel I should be paroled earlier than I am supposed to be.
• How could you support me once released?
• While incarcerated, how has our relationship grown, or gotten worse?
• How sure are you that I will honor my parole conditions and how will you assist?
• Have you seen growth in me and in what ways?
• How would you feel if something happened to me as a result of getting covid-19?

These are just some prompts to follow but whatever you choose to write or say, you can. I really want to make my request for early parole based upon the outbreak of this virus that could potentially hurt me while being in prison here. I ask that you support me in this cause. I am more than qualified and ready to return home and do not want to die in prison.

You can email me or write me at: mlmauneyII@gmail.com or corrlinks

or

Michael L. Mauney II, W101821
MCI-Norfolk
P.O. Box 43
Norfolk, MA 02056

You can write, email, or call and share your petition and this one with Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins at:

Rachael Rollins
One Bulfinch Place
Boston, MA 02114
617-619-4000
email at: Rachael.Rollins@MassMail.State.MA.US

Thank you all for the love. This matter is urgent. I have a timeline of April 30th. I hope to hear from you soon.

In solidarity,
Michael L Mauney II
aka Country”

Please see a request from one of our comrades at Black & Pink about a member inside who needs our support. We’re in this together and right now Juan needs us. Please email fill this quick form out after you do!

Content warning for incarceration, trauma, violence, and suicide.

Continue reading “Action needed: Solitary is not treatment!”

As most of you already know, one of the initiatives that we’ve been working on in 2019 has been a project that allows people inside to help meet the needs of other incarcerated and detained people through a Patreon subscription service that also publishes media from inside.

So far, we have sent back every penny that we’ve raised (and then some) to make sure that our family inside has what they need. All of these transactions have been recorded on a ledger and all receipts have been saved. Nevertheless, we were informed earlier this week that one of our inside organizers was questioned about the funds and told that the Department considers trafficking drugs to be the only explanation for why someone on the outside would send money to complete strangers.

This is emblematic of why we oppose prisons, detention and policing altogether: to believe in the logic of the carceral system requires us to suspend our love and support for each other, to see our own needs and those of the state as the only needs that matter.

This logic is the foundation of prisons, where prisoners face time in solitary confinement for simply sharing bottled water or toothpaste. Prisoners and detainees are forbidden from corresponding with one another, and when people are paroled, they are forbidden from staying in contact with their loved ones still inside. For many, this means leaving the only family they have left.

When people are released, they are also forbidden from giving their possessions to people still inside. People who recycle radios or fans are accused of theft and given disciplinary tickets. As of 2018, family members with more than one loved one inside are unable to visit, and attempts by prisoners to send money to family are routinely stymied.

It was in the spirit of trying to address this that we created the Solidarity Network platform, and it’s in this spirit that we intend to continue to do so.

Time and again we see that staff are the primary traffickers of drugs into prisons. And yet, the DOC uses the spectre of drugs and drug use to keep families apart and deny prisoners access to their support systems. The DOC uses this spectre to deny prisoners necessary medical treatment and pain management while conducting violent, violating shakedowns and “security” practices against prisoners and their visitors. Many of our inside members have endured recovery from surgery with no more than Tylenol. We see through this.

We ask supporters to be ready to take action should the DOC continue to escalate its intimidation and retaliation against prisoners and their loved ones. We keep us safe and we are all we have.

This is to help us track the DOC’s responses. While the calls are most important, these also help us shift our messaging and adjust as we need.

In our experience, no matter what the state, prisons and detention centers are hard to get a hold of. We want to help fix that! Have you interacted with someone in a state/local prison? Detention center? Please fill out this form, and help us grow a crowd-sourced open directory. Entries will be cross-checked before they go live, so please include a source if you can!