BEYOND BARS: Mississippi DOC Revives “Group Punishment”

By Charles D. Owens, II Lakesville, MS The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), under the leadership of the new Commissioner Marshall Fisher, has revived the practice of group punishment. Under this revived practice, entire prisons re punished for an individual’s misconduct. Recent examples include an incident where a single inmate fought with a single guard […]

BEYOND BARS: Mass Incarceration—Transforming an Unconstitutional System

By Bro. Brad Broussard, Beeville, TX Under the Thirteenth Amendment, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (emphasis added). The word ‘except’ here indicates that slavery and involuntary servitude […]

BEYOND BARS: Challenging Imperialism

By Mwalimus S. Shakur, Corcoran, CA Within the confines of these concrete tombs, we prison activists have responded to fascist oppression by becoming jailhouse lawyers. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has buried us alive in the “SHU” (Security Housing Unit), where maintaining one’s sanity is the ultimate challenge. Locked in a tiny cell […]

BEYOND BARS: Concrete Empire

By Carl H. Harrison | Susanville, CA In the 1980s, California began a prison- and jail-building boom. Concrete jails and prisons popped up all over the state, while laws were quickly changed to make it easier to lock people up. These facilities quickly filled up and people had to join gangs within the facilities in […]

BEYOND BARS: Mass Incarceration: Transforming an Unconstitutional System

By Bro. Brad Broussard Beeville, TX Under the Thirteenth Amendment, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (emphasis added). The word ‘except’ here indicates that slavery and involuntary servitude […]

BEYOND BARS: Challenging Imperialism

By Mwalimus S. Shakur Corcoran, CA Within the confines of these concrete tombs, we prison activists have responded to fascist oppression by becoming jailhouse lawyers. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) havsburied us alive in the “SHU” (Security Housing Unit), where maintaining one’s sanity is the ultimate challenge. Locked in a tiny cell for […]

BEYOND BARS: The Concrete Empire

By Carl H. Harrison Susanville, CA In the 1980s, California began a prison and jail-building boom. Concrete jails and prisons popped up all over the state, while laws were quickly changed to make it easier to lock people up. These facilities quickly filled up and people had to join gangs within the facilities in order […]

BEYOND BARS: Racism and Corruption Plague Connecticut’s Legal System

By Abdul Mukhtaar, NLG Jailhouse Lawyer Suffield, CT In Connecticut we have judges appointed to the bench by what is known as the Judicial Selection Committee. This twelve-person panel is put together by the Governor, the President Pro Tempore, state Senate minority and majority leaders, and the State Representatives’ minority and majority leaders. Of these […]