Letter:
Transcript:
[Letter 1 of 3]
Ms. Valerie,
Hey, what’s good? I’m Allen. Bro told me the other day that you would be expecting my letter?
I read your article on Cook County solitary confinement. You have a real ability to paint with words. I’m the exact opposite :(…
I consider myself an activist, except much less tolerant and more stupid. In the past my go to tool has been violence. Kicking ass has great stress relief properties. But recently that strategy has become a losing one. Literally, they’ve been fucking us up! No fair fights either: 6 on 1, 3 on 1, handcuffs, pepperball guns…etc. I am trying to create some public awareness and bring a light to the overt racism, brutality, and human rights violations taking place within the darkness of these walls. I want the people of Illinois to see what type of violent machine their tax dollars are feeding and I want those responsible for the Bullshit held accountable.
I need some kind of platform that the public can access. It needs to be able to upload photos, blogs, audio recordings and documents. I was thinking of a Facebook page.
I would need you to type + post the content If you could record phone calls and upload them we could do interviews together. Alot of brothers also want to contribute their experiences. I could have them write them down and give them to me. And we can post them.
I’m not the best at thinking through shit. I just know that I need to do something because things are getting out of hand. I don’t know if it’s because Menard prison is in Southern Illinois or what but these officers are 1700’s racist! I have NEVER been racist but I can’t help this hatred that’s been building.
Do you have any ideas, is there anything I should or could be doing differently?
Im looking forward to hearing from you and im hoping we can work together on this.
Allen Brown Jr. #R53255
Menard CC
PO Box 1000
Menard, IL – 62259
[Letter 2 or 3]
I AM NOT YOUR *
By Allen Brown Jr
Pontiac Correctional Center (IDOC)
I was in a cage on I gallery in Pontiac East Cell house after finishing up an appointment with Mental Health staff. I had been sitting for 20 mins in this unventilated room in the heat of summer. And the only way to get the Officer’s attention is to rattle the bars. I shook the bars at which point officer Richmond comes in and says “Stop shaking my fucking bars, *!”
I told him to go get me Seargeant so I could report him. Seargent Naretto returns and argues me up + down that his officer didn’t say *.
I refused to go back to my cell so he called officer Richmond and ofc. Dietz back to the room to cuff me up and Richmond asks in front of the Seargeant “Are you going to cuff up *”. I saw Sgt Naretto smirk and I reached out and punched Richmond in his mouth and nose knocking him on his ass.
Sgt Naretto + Dietz pull Richmond out of the room. Naretto comes back minutes later with a Lieutenant and sprays an entire can of pepper spray before calling me a bitch and walking out.
The Tact Team came to get me. I complied since they werent assholes and my problem wasnt with them. They Got my eyes rinsed out and put me in a cell
2 hours later another Tactical Team from Springfield comes to get me and transfers me to Menard
Pulling up to this strange prison was an experience. It’s like something from the 1800’s
As I was escorted from the bus I was punched one time by an officer. He told me to stop hitting people. I spit on him and thought to myself that maybe he should take his own advice.
[Letter 3 of 3]
IS THIS HOW EMMETT TILL FELT
By Allen Brown Jr
Menard Correctional Center
Illinois Dept. Of Corrections
“Turn around and cuff up you piece of shit.”
That’s what 3 white male corrections officers at my door kept reiterating. 2 of which were of the Seargeant Rank. Because of my experience I know that when they approach you in this fashion it’s usually bad. So hell no I wasnt about to cuff up! That was until they pulled out this mini fire-extinguisher full of pepper spray.
As they are pulling me out of my cell, I could see 7 officers at the end of the gallery standing in the hallway wearing the black mechaninc + motorcycle gloves with the hard plastic inserts on the knuckles. And I knew then that I was now EMMETT TILL and this was my lynch mob. But I refused to be afraid. I allowed them to put the lego rons on and held my head up as I walked through them to the infirmary. A place on 5 gallery without any cameras. I was lead past an interview room containing one of the guys Clarence Britten and a Mental Health Professional Ms Bither and into the room right next door.
Wham! I was hit in the back of the head and pushed to the floor where I was beaten, kicked and spit on while being called a “* + Boy + Piece of shit. This went on for 10 minutes untill I heard someone say that the Lieutenant was comming at which point a seargeant sprayed an entire can of Pepper spray into my face and then left me there on the floor with my hands cuffed behind my back beaten and bleeding with a swollen head. Is this how Emmett Till felt? Would they come back + kill me?
I was denied medical attention. The mental health staff member refused to report the incident. Insted I was forced to walk backwards, bent over at the waist so the camera on the gallery could’nt see the damage they caused.
The next day I was served a disciplinary report in which the Seargeant says that I beat my own head against a window and that he delivered a short burst of pepper spray to protect me. My head went through the wall of sheet rock at the base of the wall. The damaged wall is still there with holes from other people that have been abused.
Codes:
Letter 1- Connections to the outside world through communicating; self-identification as an activist; violence to cope, violence as emotional geographies; violence by guards against prisoners; resistance among prisoner(s): public exposure -through writing; social conditions of racism; psychological/emotional impact of solitary: hatred
Letter 2- Unsafe physical conditions: heat, lack of ventilation; resistance against guards: “disorderly” rational conduct, refusing to obey, physical violence; racial slurs by guards; physical abuse by guards against prisoners; verbal abuse by guards against prisoners; surplus power: retaliation by guards; referencing the past: Jim Crow era; surplus power: tension between guards and prisoners; self-identification as a historical figure; grievances: guards withholding basic needs – medical and MH care; social conditions of racism, brutality, and hostility
