Prison:
What's It All About?
The California Department of Corrections is a bitter joke to most convicts
and if it wasn't so vicious and destructive it would be funny. It can't help me,
and won't let me help myself.
olsom State Prison, sometimes called the ware-
F house, the graveyard or the pit; old, broken down
dirty, it is better suited to the world of 1884, but those
who tend its wares are straight out of 1984. In classic Or-
wellian fashion they precipitated a crisis, then, proclaim-
ing a "dangerous situation in the making," locked the
joint down to prevent it.
Friday, November 30, 1973, began like any other day
and proceeded through the morning without incident or
"mounting tension" which generally prevails when dan-
gerous situations are developing, but it ended with us
deadlocked in our cells, bewildered and confused, won-
dering what the hell was going on. The siege had begun.
A convicted felon means different things to different
people: to himself he is an individual caught in a cruel
dehumanizing process, to the general public he is a dan-
gerous element to be either punished or rehabilitated,
but as a ward of the California Department of Correc-
tions, which is responsible for his custody, care and
treatment, he is simply an economic unit in a mul-
timillion dollar scheme. Like Hansel and Gretel, we are
being led deep into the angry forest by our wicked step-
mother. Unlike them we are not innocent children--we
are wary and skeptical, suspicious of mother because we
know she is a devious bitch and fear she is using us only
as a means for collecting a bigger welfare check.
When a guard was killed at Deuel Vocational Institu-
tion last November 27, San Quentin, Soledad and Fol-
som were locked up for "security reasons." It just so
happens that they all have reputations that readily lend
themselves to the public imagery as institutions of vio-
lent upheaval. Various CDC spokesmen played on this
imagery for a week straight as they issued a daily bar-
rage of information to the news media concerning the
killing and subsequent security lockup. Press statements
were falling on top of one another, each more strident
than the last; some were true, others were inaccurate,
most were outrageous lies. But they were all self-serving.
I haven't any direct knowledge of what the situation
was at the other prisons and can't say whether their
July/August
by Herb Zeigler
lockup was justified according to the reasons given, but I
do know what was happening here and what w a s n o t
happening and can say the whole affair was bogus. Fur-
thermore, everyone I talked to, including some correc-
tional personnel, agreed that Folsom was brought into
the act simply on the basis of its wide reputation. I sus-
pect that Soledad and San Quentin were used for the
same purpose.
The reason given for the lockup at Folsom was: "A
bunch of knives [seven, I think] were found in the mess
hall, and coincidental with their discovery the adminis-
tration was furnished information, from some mysteri-
ous source, that they were to be used to assassinate in-
mates and staff." Now, finding a cache of knives in a
penitentiary mess hall is about as great a surprise as
finding dope stashed in the bathroom of a third-rate
hotel. Each is as natural to its environment as bed bugs--
which also flourish in penitentiaries and run-down
hotels. But it wasn't the knives alone that sprung the
alarm, it was the information received along with them
regarding their ultimate purpose. However, the whole
matter of an assassination plot turns on the credibility of
the new informants or the gullibility of the administra-
tion. It seems most likely that the warden went searching
for that particular kind of information and his infor-
mants conveniently provided him with it. So what the
press wound up with was: "A Black Guerrilla Team
Operating in Folsom."
Folsom can in no way be characterized as seething
with revolutionary fever. As a matter of fact, overall po-
litical consciousness rates about .08 on a scale of 10, and
a black guerrilla would receive about as much support as
a real live gorilla running loose on the yard. The ad-
ministration is fully aware of this condition, so why did
they raise this dread specter among us? Of course they
have always played on the natural fears and prejudices of
the inmate population while we naively went along al-
lowing ourselves to be manipulated by our blind pas-
sions, but we have finally learned the name of the game.
Although many whites openly scoff at the idea of black
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guerrillas, still others are not so sure and are beset with
suspicion and apprehension, wondering if the other side
is getting ready to strike.
Reading the news reports, I found that: "Convict
gangs were marauding throughout the prisons, striking
terror in the hearts of both inmates and staff. Conditions
were so bad that guards were threatening to quit and in-
mates were seeking protective custody lockup in fear of
their lives." This may not be an outright lie, but neither
is it anywhere near the truth, and it should raise ques-
tions regarding CDC's purpose for making such wild
claims.
In Folsom, blacks, browns and whites live together in
an easy harmony without fear or racial strife. This peace
has endured for a year in spite of two incidents (the stab-
bing of a black by whites, and the knifing of a Chicano
by a black) which in more turbulent times would have
exploded into bloody conflict. Even the two Mexican
factions (the Mafia and Nuestra Familia) have resolved
their differences and no longer avenge their grievances
through duels of death. They have gone to great lengths
to establish a lasting peace among themselves, but with-
out apparent reason CDC recently bussed a new group
of Nuestra Familia members into this relative calm
which could have shattered the fragile alliance. Both
sides were alarmed, but instead of striking against one
another, they asked each other why. For what purpose
were they brought together? Was it by accident or delib-
erate design? Now they still walk the yard together,
working toward one accord.
The same old rules still apply in prison:
don't gamble, or snitch, or mess around
with narcotics or sissies, don't go to the
hospital and you will live to a ripe old
age.
This business about convict gangs threatening and
bullying other inmates to "join up, lock up or e l s e . . . " is
a fabrication also. Outlaw groups have always flourished
in prisons; they have been known by different names, or
sometimes no name at all, just called a "tip," but they
have always served the same purpose. Their existence
grows out of the nature of the prison system itself and
not from the supposedly warped mentality of the individ-
ual as is popularly claimed. In its dehumanization, pris-
on not only cuts the individual off from the world, it also
alienates convicts from one another. It is only through
such groups as the Mafia, the Nuestra Family, the
Aryan Brotherhood and if it exists, the Black Guerrilla
Family that some individuals are able to establish the
kind of real human contact their identities require.
Membership in them is an intensely personal experience
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which is bonded by loyalitywnot fear. For that reason,
and for the nature of their activities, their recruitment
process would have to be highly selective and confidence
and trust would be the foremost criteria. They would
have to be absolutely positive that the new recruit could
"hold his mud" and wouldn't run to the man at the first
sign of trouble. This is surely what would happen with
someone they forced in at knife-point. He would break
to the captain's office the first chance he got and give up
everybody in the group.
Because they are outlaws, these groups are blamed for
most of the violence that occurs in prison. Much of it
they are not even indirectly connected with, but they are
a convenient tag to hang anything on. And when some
weak dude gets in a jam on the yard, it's a simple matter
for him to ask for protective custody and claim he was
pressured by one group or another. The same old rules
still apply in prison: don't gamble, or snitch, or mess
around with narcotics or sissies, don't go to the hospital
and you will live to a ripe old age.
One of the more stringent "security measures" taken
during this crisis, besides the firing of over 200 inmates
from their jobs and cutting our showers back to every
other night, was the arbitrary locking up of certain peo-
ple. About 25 or 30 (or perhaps more) convicts were
packed off to the Adjustment Center because they were
deemed a "threat" to the rest of us. I don't know what
the officials found in their records to warrant that con-
clusion, though most of them were black and political
(whatever that means) but not radical, they were defini-
tely nonthreatening. Moreover, they left nuts running
loose on the yard who are a far greater hazard than
someone who has read a book on Marx. It's just another
instance that leads to questioning the validity of the
whole operation.
What's it all about anyway? I've talked to many peo-
ple about it and they all follow the same line of reason-
ing: money and power.
With the sure probability of a new governor coming in
and the impending financial crisis, the California De-
partment of Corrections was faced with an uncertain
year. Economists all over the country were forecasting a
severe recession in '74 and CDC officials, like corporate
heads everywhere, were scrambling to protect their in-
dustries. The head of a certain manufacturing firm was
discovered hoarding a tanker car of fuel and explained:
"It's a good business practice, besides my customers ex-
pect it and so do my employees." However what's good
for business is not necessarily good for CDC, whose
products are inmates' bodies and whose customers are
the taxpayers.
There was already a proposed CDC budget of $160
million to provide for 22,000 inmates, which figures out
to about $7,000 a body. Now, this is an excessive
amount of money to spend on me without any assurance
Society
that I'm being either punished or rehabilitated, and there
is no guarantee that society is receiving $7,000 a year
worth of protection. I've got a criminal history dating
back 20 years and haven't stolen $7,000 during the entire
period. But what that $160 million is really buying is
homes, cars and vacations for CDC personnel, and it
would be interesting to find out just how much of it is
translated into $12,000 to $25,000 a year salaries.
If the economic situation gets as funky as predicted
there could very well be some resistance to such gross ex-
penditures and it might prompt some legislative commit-
tee to review the entire CDC operation, or at least raise
some questions about the value of its dollar to the reha-
bilitation/punishment ratio. But this is not likely to hap-
pen if CDC manages a prison crisis every few months. If
the public can be frightened enough they will be glad to
pay for any kind of protection they can get. Look what
the energy crisis produced: people turned their thermo-
stats down to 65 degrees and are getting ready to pay a
dollar for a gallon of gas. It's only necessary that they be
adequately primed.
During the week we were locked up and for the rest of
the month of December that we lived under "red alert
conditions" the guard was doubled and tripled. Many of-
ricers worked extra shifts and spent more time counting
their overtime than counting convicts. The total figures
for the December payroll aren't available, but it is re-
ported that some officers collected $500 to $1,000 in
overtime. Therefore it appears, rightly or wrongly, that
the whole affair was just a put-on to allow correctional
personnel a chance to make some extra Christmas
money. This was the consensus of both cynical and naive
convicts all over the yard.
Even without the economic crisis this is still a crucial
year for CDC personnel, especially those in the upper
echelons. Maybe because we're certain to get a new gov-
ernor or because of some other reason, but there seems
to be a power struggle going on. Walter Craven, the ex-
warden of Folsom, is one of the top three people in
CDC; and if Chuck Colson would have run over his
grandmother to get Richard Nixon re-elected, I would
hate to see what Mr. Craven would do to a poor convict
to get the Director's job.
If you can imagine, Raymond Procunier, Director of
CDC, has a chief deputy director, three deputy directors
and six assistant directors. Of course all these have
dozens of assistants and aides under their authority. It is
in this byzantine atmosphere that Procunier is fighting
for his job, and when you get these kinds of hassles in the
High Command the troops catch hell. The real issues
aren't prison conditions but high-salaried jobs and their
attendant benefits. Such positions are difficult to give up
and they will hang on to them by any means necessary.
If it means shaking up the prisons--so be it.
I personally have a high regard for Mr. Procunier and
July/August
am afraid if he goes we'll revert back to the nineteenth
century. I appreciate the many changes he's brought to
the Department of Corrections, although I think his re-
cent actions and statements (which perhaps he was
forced to make) will create far more problems than they
will resolve. He stated: "Prisoners should stop thinking
society is wrong and start looking inside themselves."
And, " I f the Prisoner's Union really wants to help, they
wouldn't get these guys all stirred up thinking it's every-
body else's fault they're inside but their own."
The prison is a money operation from
top to bottom, no better than a Las
Vegas gambling casino, run by the same
kind of shills for the same purpose.
Now, I understand where my fault lies, and acknowl-
edge it, but that does not absolve society and the prison
of its wrongs. I demand no less of the prison than I do of
myself and I expect it to be an honest affair, not a fraud.
It's a money operation from top to bottom, no better
than a Las Vegas gambling casino, run by the same kind
of shills for the same purpose.
The California Department of Corrections is a bitter
joke to most convicts and if it wasn't so vicious and de-
structive it would be funny. It can't help me, and won't
let me help myself. Why not let the Prisoner's Union in?
They might not do any better, but they sure couldn't do
any worse. Then again, it reverts back to the same old
proposition: money, jobs and power. That's the whole
threat of the Prisoner's Union. CDC is hardly concerned
about us "being stirred up about our rights." What good
are rights without the power to exercise them? Children
in kindergarten have rights also, but only with the teach-
er's consent.
Although much of what I've stated can be document-
ed, some of it cannot. I don't make any claim to objec-
tivity because my ill feelings toward CDC will not per-
mit it, yet that does not detract from its validity. It is
intended only as a brief glimpse into our condition and
to register my fear and apprehension of it growing
worse. Much more needs to be said; however, the real
questions lie far deeper than the areas I have touched
upon. They can only be resolved by those who hold the
power and authority.
The press and legislature are the only two instruments
that the people have to assure themselves that their inter-
ests are being protected. Even though we are convicts,
we are still numbered among the people, and we are all
being taken in a hip shell game. So I would invite you to
come in and take a good look at this thing, from the in-
side, and perhaps you might really learn what it's all
about.O
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