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NEWS & LETTERS, March-April 2005Political prisoner faces harassment
Khalfani Malik Khaldun is a political prisoner who is facing continuous harassment by prison authorities for his radical views. These are excerpts from a recent press release. For the full text, contact NEWS & LETTERS. Contact Khalfani Malik Khaldun, 874304 (Leonard McQuay) at: A-207 SHU, PO Box 1111, Carlisle, IN 47838. * * * This saga began 10 years ago, on Dec. 13, 1994, while I
was a prisoner housed at the Indiana State Prison (ISP) in Michigan City. The
Indiana Department of Corruption filed a homicide/murder charge against me. The
state of Indiana then filed a murder charge against me as well. The murder they
accused me of was that of an ISP guard. I was formally charged with this crime
six years after it occurred, hours after my release from prison on earlier
charges. In 2001, I was found guilty by a state court and sentenced to a 60-year
term. This wrongful conviction is why I am a prisoner today. Two years ago, the Indiana Department of Corruption had
me transferred from the “Indiana Supermax" control unit in Westville to
yet another repressive unit, the "Secured Housing Unit" (SHU) in
Carlisle, Indiana. The attitude of 90% of the staff here is one of
arrogance. They have a bold, racist character and feel able to do as they
please. They claim this is their unit and they’ll run it how they choose. For
many years they’ve gotten away with beating prisoners, killing prisoners and
provoking prisoners to kill themselves. I’d like to credit the comrades who came before me who
have taken up the struggle to confront this racist system here. They launched
lawsuits, grievances and complaints to expose corruption and systematic
violence, as victims of this repressive unit. In their spirit and knowing that
repression breeds resistance, I am following this tradition. It is what being a
prison activist is all about. While being housed on department-wide administrative
segregation on the A East 200 Range, in the SHU, a whole host of state law
violations and violations of prison policies and procedures have continuously
occurred. These have caused me and several other conscious prisoners here to
launch a variety of complaints and grievances, protesting and exposing as much
as we could, with our limited means. Eventually, after many months, slight
changes began occurring. On March 28, 2003, ten guards approached my cell
demanding that I give up a religious "ANKH" approved for me by the
property officer. I refused to turn it over to them. They left and shortly
returned to search my cell for the necklace. They could not find it and got
upset, so they confiscated 376 of my personal family photographs, a hot pot and
two personal letters, instead. This was their way of retaliating and punishing
me for not finding the necklace. The staff running the property room on the SHU
destroyed all my pictures and other personal effects on July 9, 2003. On Jan. 12, 2005, the state of Indiana and the staff at
this SHU sent counselor James Linneweber to offer me a settlement for my
destroyed pictures of $145. He came to my cell and handed me a single sheet of
paper where he outlined what the state was willing to give me, in his own
handwriting in red ink. I read it and refused his offer. He called me a
"crazy jackass." He then advised me that I had legal mail and opened
it in front of me and began reading it. I told him to stop reading my mail. As I
grabbed the materials from the food slot, he started to snatch the papers back,
stating that I didn't deserve to win the legal battle he was trying to get me to
settle cheaply. James Linneweber apparently incurred a paper cut at this
time, so he started screaming and staged a big scene, claiming I had assaulted
him through a thick metal door. The two responding officers quickly agreed to
help prepare false statements against me and had me placed in disciplinary
segregation lockup. Several unit supervisors entered the unit and I was escorted
to the shower. They searched my cell, made me strip and went through my clothes.
Thirty minutes later, I was placed back into my cell. I complied. No one gave me
a direct order to do anything! Yet, these three officers filed three major
conduct infractions against me. They scheduled me to appear before the conduct
adjustment board on Jan. 19, 2005. My lawsuit hearing was also scheduled for
that same day! MODERN DAY LYNCHING This hearing symbolized a modern day Jim Crow lynching.
The chairman of the board is a white racist, displaying tyrannical behavior. I
presented a statement of facts, a prisoner witness statement and the sheet given
to me by Linneweber offering me the $145 settlement. Lt. Brough refused to read
my statement. They then ordered me out of the room, so the board could
deliberate my fate. This was the story of my life! Deliberations lasted
about 20 minutes. The board found me guilty of all three conduct violations,
even though they knew the staff had lied to them. It was their way of punishing
me, the bold, Black prisoner, for not accepting their paltry settlement offer. I
am guilty of saying "no!" to a bunch of Jim Crow, deep South, arrogant
racists! This, once again, is a clear-cut case of how corruption rules the day
and how their word is the only one ever considered as being truthful. I’ve tried to tell how I am being set up as a walking
target. I've been at this facility for two years and many white officers here
are extremely disgruntled towards me due to all the complaints I've filed on
behalf of myself and other brothers. Many of my complaints have sparked the Indiana Board of
Health to cite the SHU five separate times for health code violations. The
Indiana State Police have launched investigations into the racist attitudes by
staff, due to my complaints. I’ve filed complaints about the phones in the
visiting booths, group recreation, sanitation, poor quality food, broken trays,
misuse of recreation funds by administrative staff, torn clothing. FORCED PRISON DRUGGING On Jan. 21, 2005, eight SHU officers approached my cell
and demanded that I come to the door. They cuffed me up and I was taken to the
disciplinary segregation B-East on a psych-patient range. As I entered the cell,
I noticed that the bed had these four-way metal grooves welded into them. This
is a cell that prisoners are strapped down to be shot up with psychotropic
drugs. There is no way I belong on this range, but it is the state’s way and
plan to fix me. I have not as yet been subjected to take any
"medications." I am the only prisoner on this range who is not being
sedated. These conspirators are all happy now that they have
succeeded in putting me in an uncomfortable situation. I can no longer buy food
from the prison commissary. I am forced to consume prison meals exclusively.
These "meals" have extremely small portions. I can only have 10 books
or magazines in my cell. I’ve filed three separate disciplinary appeals forms,
contesting the charges and the sanctions placed upon me, subjecting me to 18
months in the hole. They are sent to the facility superintendent first, then
downstate to the final reviewing authority in Indianapolis. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND I’m currently a stranger in a strange land, where all
prisoners around me are heavily sedated by mind-controlling drugs. This is where
many of the last, lonely, and the forgotten dwell. I can sense the spirits of
countless restless souls. I will not be counted among those claimed by this
man-made hell. My soul screams freedom daily! Calls of Protest and Support can be made to: • Commissioner J. David Donahue, (317)232-5711 • Southern Regional Director Steve McCauley, (317)232-577, or smccauley@coa.doc.state.in.us |
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