I am responding to the call to action letter in vol 12 Issue 4 of Black and pink.

1) What work do you do and how do you feel about it? 

 A - Currently I am in “No work No pay” state as a unit orderly/ After the first three months of no pay and working I finally began receiving $21 a month. The job was quick and easy (sweep, mop, keep the unit clean) but I was harassed for being in other inmates way all the time. When the head [inmate] orderly began micromanaging how and when I cleaned, that was it and I quit after a total of six months.

The only other job I had here in [facility redacted] NY was ‘compound worker’. All we did was walk around and pick up trash or push manual lawn mowers. Again I only did it for six months and three of them went unpaid until I did get back-pay for it all. Then the pay went from $18 a month to $7 a month, so I quit. The job, besides being a forced exercise for me, was meaningless because they had ride-on lawnmowers cut the grass all the time. 

So, I feel having a job in prison is another way to torture us. The pay is so little I can’t pay my monthly commissary with it nor is there opportunity to earn more. The main benefits to any job in prison is access to restricted materials that you steal and sell to other inmates (such as food, cleaning supplies, medical supplies etc.) to supplement your income. I never felt comfortable doing that, even when given permission by my staff boss, because if caught by another staff member I’d still get in trouble.

2) What would you want someone who hasn’t been incarcerated to know about prison slavery? 

A - Forcing a person to perform activities under threat of violence is what got many people into prison and having it done to us now does not make it right. Without the persons agreement, and willingness to do something, they will perform poorly, inefficiently, and will work harder to avoid the work then doing it. You’ll never be able to trust them without supervision because they will try to steal, sabotage, or fake it as much as they can get away with. All this in a prison setting is counterproductive if the goal is a better citizen upon release.

3) When you read the Abolition Amendment, how does that make you feel?

 A - It feels great and right. But while were editing Amendments we should look at the phrase “cruel and unusual” and ask ourselves why must cruelty be unusual to be illegal? If cruel behavior is normalized that makes it ok? I say no.

4) Do you want to be an active member of the campaign?

A - I wish to see it realized, but I don’t believe I can do anything from behind bars.

5) Do you or others in your facility listen to regular prison Radio show? If so which one?

A - No, I know of no such thing. What are they?

When I sit and think about my time in Federal Prison and how I am treated I always end up asking these question

• What is the purpose (s) of prison?
• Are prisons currently acting to achieve those purposes?
• What can be done to better achieve those purposes?

By answering these questions we can better clarify

• How inmates are to be treated and what rights they should have
• What should be available / restricted to inmates

- The common answers to the purposes of prison

• To protect the public
• To punish those who commit crimes 
• To deter others from committing future crimes 

- Are prisons currently acting to achieve these purposes? No 

- What can be done to better achieve these purposes?

• I have pages and pages of critiques, suggestions and complaints although they are not finalized in a report (I don’t have access to Microsoft word or any electronic app or storage). I would be happy to work with you and discuss them. 

One of the worst things about prison is feeling your life is meaningless and working towards something productive to better my current environment that also helps millions of others in my situation gives me purpose and home.           

Thank you