We dare to stand united w/ all racial groups to say enough is enough, while CDCR and FBI collaborate [View all]

[annm4peace]

( i just posted parts of the article.. but the whole article is enlightening. )

( * also, CA has a Democratic Governor, Senate and Assembly.. Democratic-- Shameful)

http://sfbayview.com/2013/we-dare-to-stand-united-with-all-racial-groups-to-say-enough-is-enough-while-cdcr-and-fbi-collaborate-to-break-our-hunger-strike/

by Arturo Castellanos

Aug. 14, 2013 – My name is Arturo Castellanos, and I am one of the four principal volunteer representatives here at Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) in the Security Housing Units (SHU). I have been here on indefinite SHU since I arrived in 1990.

CDCR did not place us in these “unfinished” ASU cells out of the kindness of their hearts. No, they placed us here to punish us for daring to stand up united with all racial groups to say enough is enough! No longer are we going to allow CDCR to lock us up in these torturous prison cells and throw away the key without us challenging them.

This is not the first time PBSP and CDCR officials from Sacramento have ordered us into these ASU cells with freezing air blowing out of the vents 24/7, no fire sprinklers, no power or cable hook ups for our personally owned appliances. This was done to us in our 2011 peaceful hunger strike also.

They claim that they are still renovating these new ASU cells they built and opened in 2007. They have still not finished “renovating” these ASU cells that are far worse than the SHU cells. Ever since the legislature has refused to fund the building of more prisons across the state, CDCR has been building these unfinished torture chambers at all men’s and women’s prisons. And they are intentionally left unfinished to look and feel depressing. But, like in 2011, CDCR has again made a big mistake by placing us here.

CDCR’s big mistake in placing us here is that we are now taking up the fight on behalf of ASU prisoners across the state demanding that the CDCR immediately “finish” renovating these ASU cells – painting them, making them appliance ready, installing fire sprinklers and heat and lowering the ice cold air.

We have begun by asking our attorneys in our present lawsuit against the CDCR’s indeterminate SHU placement to contact the attorneys in the Coleman class action suit to file a motion with the court to order CDCR to immediately finish the so-called “renovations.” The Coleman case had already addressed the issue that the overwhelming majority of prisoners, men and women, across the state who have committed suicide were at the time housed in these types of unfinished ASU cells.

Being in these cells for just 30 days, I can fully understand why they committed suicide. They are truly oppressive and constitute very depressing conditions. Suicide? Hell yes! Especially for those men and women who receive SHU terms of indefinite SHU and have to wait in these depressing cells for six months to two years until a cell opens up in SHU for them. Our attorneys are requesting that the Coleman attorneys, who are also our attorneys, file a motion in the court to order CDCR to immediately close and stop housing men and women prisoners in these “unfinished” ASU cells until they fully renovate them.

The world is unaware that FBI agents have been permanently stationed here in PBSP to assist IGI and ISU agents. They have been here for several years now. They are now playing the old propaganda agenda by conspiring together to destroy our outside support by now personally attacking the 20 named volunteer prisoner representatives from the PBSP SHU Short Corridor, especially the four groups – White, Black and Latino from the Northern and Southern parts of California – united in this common cause to radically change CDCR for prisoners, prisoners families and the overall true safety of our outside communities with our “Call to End all Hostilities” paper, our Five Core Demands and 40 supplemental demands.

The CDCR is hand feeding information to the media. They are hand feeding the press old information about us on and about old incidents, some going back 20-30 years, to re-criminalize us and take away from the legitimacy of our demands.

Little did I know that the FBI now conspired with the CDCR to go to a grand jury to file another federal indictment in my community using the very same old evidence from 2007 and again named me as the leader and as an “unindicted co-conspirator.” The media reported it, to discredit me as one of the four principal reps involved in this hunger strike and to attack our united front and diminish our public support with old evidence on this “conspiracy” from 2004-2007.

They also falsely reported that I used the phone to send messages – we are not allowed phone calls; that I was passing “kites” through visiting – we are not allowed contact visits; and that I sent coded messages through the mail, when up until May of this year all my mail was heavily restricted and screened by IGI. This FBI investigation took place over the past three years – my restrictions lasted four years. So you see this indictment was pre-planned by the feds to be released during this hunger strike to discredit this peaceful hunger strike.

I explain this to demonstrate how the CDCR and FBI are working together to try and break this movement apart. We reps expect further attacks like these using old – sometimes very old – indictments to attempt to justify keeping us in solitary confinement forever.