abuse of administrative confinement

 this was written 5 years ago. Now, in 2016, we are engaged in supporting a hunger strike aimed at bringing awareness to the torturous solitary confinement policy of WI prisons. Go to
www.solitarytorture.blogspot.com for news of the strike and its support.

Update on Kamau coming

Solitary Confinement___________March 5, 2011

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, Most Gracious, Most Gracious 

Kamau Damali aka Raynell Morgan 279380

WRC, PO Box 220, Winnebago, WI 54985

1) Introduction

I've been incarcerated since Nov. 2, 1993 and in solitary confinement since June 24, 1999. I was sentenced to life in prison June 27, 1994 for 1st degree intentional homicide. I will be eligible for parole June 27, 2019, Insha^’ Allah. At the time in question I was a young adult in my late teens full of rage, hate, passion and completely numbed by the social ills of white racism and Urban Fascist Amerika. It all happened so quick: A friend was robbed, he solicited my assistance and the rest is history. The impact of what took place and the prison sentence I received in return did not resonate with me until years later. What's so sad and disturbing is that I was looking forward to prison; I wasn't scared, nervous nor concerned on any level.

The first prison I arrived to was Dodge Correctional Institution and then to Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI). My second day at GBCI one of the brothers gave me a couple of books to read, one was Blood In My Eye, by George L. Jackson. The other ones were World's Greatest Men of Color by J.A. Rodgers and Native Son by Richard Wright. I had read Native Son when I attended school in Gary and being brought up in an Afrocentric house­hold I was all too familiar with the Black Consciousness Movement. These books reminded me of home, my parents, and precipitated me to reflect on my life, community, family and my experiences in an Alkebu-larian Diasporian (Amerikanborn Afrikan) in Amerika. With this came relentless study and re­search, which enabled me to not only reflect on but to re-educate myself. I studied myself and the human condition. In 1996, I became deeply involved in Black Revolutionary-Nationalist Liberation politics. I had swore off relig­ion when I was a youth but began to study all religions and eventually re-embraced Islam in the late 1990s, (I say re-embraced because I was a Muslim/ Bilalian in my youth but swore it off after becoming frustrated with contra­dictions I discovered). Due to the lack of Black Solidarity in the Wisconsin prison system, I decided to start a Black Liberation Organization with the aim of creating a Black United Front among Afrikan descendant[ed] prisoners. I signified to the Afrikan prison hoi polloi the importance of abandoning the colonial-criminal mind-set, re-educating ourselves, becoming better human beings so that when we return to the community we can help rebuild it and become pillars of it, Insha' Allah. Needless to say, quite a few were unmind­ful to my message and the prison administration at GBCI saw me as an immediate threat.

On June 24, 1999, I was kidnapped and abducted out of general population and placed in segregation status pending a conduct report (CR). The CR was based on fabled statements made by a so-called Confidential Informant, accus­ing me of planning a revolt against prison staff and Anglo prisoners. It was also based on my political activities and efforts to build a united black front. I received 360 days program segregation.

2) Supermax

In late 1999, the Wisconsin Department of Correction (WDOC) opened up a super-max prison in Boscobel, Wisconsin to house Wisconsin's worst of the worst prisoners. It cost the taxpayers 48.5 million dollars and it was a waste of money because Wisconsin's prison system isn't dangerous. The point of the supermax was to warehouse and isolate activist prisoners. Such prisoners are litigators, Muslims, Revolutionists, leaders and people who have a positive influence over other prisoners. The system sees such prisoners as a threat, so they conjure up spooky images and descriptions of said prisoners to justify the persecution and oppression of them.

April 25, 2000, I was transported from GBCI to Supermax Correctional Institution (SMCI), renamed Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF). In June or July of 2000 I was placed on Administrative/Solitary Confinement (AC) segregation status, and I remain on such to this very day. The racist, totalitarian WSPF prison administration has went out of its to label me as a racist, terrorist, agitator with no proof what-so-ever to justify the cont­inued and prolonged isolation of me. I have been in the hole for twelve years come June 24, 2011 , and one would think, that I killed someone while in general population (GP) or raised havoc since my placement here, and none of that is true at all. I have never been suited up on or received an in­fraction for being disruptive nor disrespectful towards staff or fellow kap-tives. I've been written up for writing essays renouncing the N-word and promoting community responsibility. I've been accused of being a domestic terrorist because I speak Swahili fluently and according to prison officials Swahili is tie language of the Black Guerrilla, who they accuse of being a domestic terrorist group. What is taking place with me is pure and unmis­takable political oppression. AC is used by the state to isolate Afrikan and Latino prisoners, for the vast majority of AC prisoners in Wisconsin are of Afrikan and Latino descent, 75% being Afrikan. And 90% plus aren't on AC for violence, but for their politics. This is a serious Human Rights issue that must be examined and brought to the forefront by concerned citi­zens.

3) The Upside of Solitary Confinement

Isolation has enabled me to tune into areas of my life that needs major im­provement. I've become more in touch with my humanity and more sensitive to the plight of all people. I've abandoned a lot of my old beliefs; beliefs that divided and kept me in a state of stagnation. I give all praise and thanks to Allah (SWt) for this Islam, true Islam has taught me low to be a better human being and my development in that area is ongoing. I've written two books and over 300 poems, writings and essays (I've written over 450 altogether, but over 300 under these conditions), while in solitary. I have taught myself Kiswahili and I'm currently teaching myself Arabic. I disbanded tie group I created in tie 1990s in 2004. I'm still committed to tie struggle but I'm through trying to reach out to individuals who are complacent with being held hostage to psychological slavery and its byproducts.

4) Tie Downside of Solitary Confinement

I haven't had a contact visit since 1999 and all my mail is monitored. Every-thing I write is misinterpreted and those who supported me have been chased away by overzealous prisoncrats. They use scare tactics like he's a racist, a terrorist and unless you cut ties with him, you too, will be labeled a terrorist etc. Psychological issues I had as a child and was able to grow out of and repress over the years have returned with a vengeance. New ones have cropped up as well. I'm extremely, severely paranoid, I have bi-polar disorder, OCD/mysophobia (aka germophobia) and somaticization disorder. My mood fluctuates rapidly and I often find myself in deep manic depressive slumps. Every time I am touched by these people, I feel dirty, like things are crawling on me and biting and pinching my skin. This started in 2003 and I have never experienced this before; these sensations are psychiatrically termed "somatic hallucinations." I learned that they're symptoms of bi-polar and schizopirenia. I was diagnosed with bi-polar and psychotic disorder as well as attention deficit disorder (ADD) as a child and spent time in mental institutions in my home state of Indiana, but I grew out of it and never, ever experienced what I refer to as "crawling sensations". I addressed these sensations by washing up, and in the beginning it worked, but now they're not receptive to the washing. Now, I'm addicted to washing up (I wash up 12 to 16 times a day). I wash my lands anywhere from 70 to 100 times a day. My goal is to get it down to 30 times a day, but it's hard under these conditions. I clean the cell 4 times a day and sometimes up to 1 5 times a day. As for sleeping, I have never had a decent sleep since my incar­ceration and in solitary it's even worse. There has been times where I went without any sleep for eight days in a row. The average I'm without sleep is 3 to 4 days and when I do sleep it's for two to three hours in spasms (i.e. 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there etc.), never in one span, and I never feel rested. The lights are always on, someone is always yelling, singing, fussing and pounding on the doors.

I came to this place with 20/20 vision, I can barely see and need glasses for everything. Over a year ago, I developed in my head noises that make a clicking, popping and heavy breathing sounds every time loud noises evince. I suffer from severe migraines due to insomnia and the noises intensify the migraines and trigger headaches when I don't have migraines. These noises frustrates me to tie point where I become violent and sad over not being able to control them, and I often times slip into these psychotic stupors and blackout. In these stupors I vomit, sweat, cry, suffer nose bleeds and experience things that I thought impossible for a human being to experience. The somatic hallucinations I spoke about earlier also triggers stupors as well as my issues with germs and excessive washing and cleaning. The insomnia induces anxiety attacks and severe irritability. All of this contributes to manic depressive episodes. Everything seems to irritate me from water dripping in the sink, the flushing of toilets , loud-mouthed brothers, singing, the rattling of keys, the opening and closing of doors and traps. These type of things didn't bother me beforehand, but years of isolation and no treatment for my prevailing psychological symptoms/issues are beginning to take its toll to a certain extent. Most people don't even know what I'm going through for I conceal it well, but those who know me, i.e. my closest allies, which aren't many, know what I'm going through and are very support­ive. They're very patient, too, because my paranoia and bi-polar mood swings have ruined a lot of associations with individuals who weren't my true friends and brothers to begin with.

What I hate about isolation is that I'm forced to focus on both the bad and the good. I would rather forget the bad things; things such as those who have crossed, back-stabbed, lied on and betrayed me. Things such as painful, heartbreaking tragedies. The psychological symptoms brings all of this to the forefront, and makes coping with things such as the loss of a loved one very difficult and in some cases almost impossible to do.

Whenever I get to these lows, I reflect on my faith and recall the dogged spirit of my people, who have always bee able to rise through the hardship and turmoil. My survival is based on staying to myself, speaking to no one, praying 5 times a day, exercising and journalizing my thoughts (that is when my concentration mode isn't overwhelmed by my bi-polar symptoms). Without these activities I'm not sure if I would be able to carry on. I will never be counted among the broken, but I'm not normal nor unaffected by the lash of incarceration and solitary confinement. None of us are.

Conclusion

This is a Human Rights issue, and so I call upon concerned citizens of Amerika (and tie world) to petition their local legislatures demanding the closing of supermaxes and other segregation units, to bring this matter to the United Nation's Counsel on Human Rights, to investigate and highlight how supermaxes and segregation units are being used to persecute and break the will of pri­soners, in particular non-violent prisoners who are politically, religiously, culturally and socially conscious. In addition, tie plight of mentally ill prisoners in these places and those who become mentally ill due to long-term isolation and tie dismal conditions of these places must be investigated and viewed as a hideous Human Rights violation.

Tie struggle continues,

In Solidarity,