Parole After SHU materials

We have a section on our website Parole After SHU materials that can be accessed at https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/education/parole-after-shu-materials/. Below is a copy of that section updated as of Jan 9, 2019. We wanted to make sure you know it exists and has lots of information.

PHSS Parole Committee
P.O. Box 5586
Lancaster, CA 93539

Life Support Alliance Seminar – Outlook for Parole 2018 (pdf)
The enclosed materials were produced by Life Support Alliance for their Inmate Family Seminar in Long Beach in September 2018.

Life Support Alliance puts on a number of these seminars each year in both Southern and Northern California. (They have several scheduled for 2019, including Sacramento, Yorba Linda, Fresno/Bakersfield area, Bay area and others). The seminars present a wealth of material, much more than can be included in the attached written materials. We recommend that you urge your family or other supporters on the outside to try to attend one these seminars from time to time.

The enclosed handouts from the September 2018 seminar were current as of that time, and there’s no guarantee they will remain accurate or current, because things are changing all the time. We hope they will be useful to you.

Information about Life Support Alliance and its programs and publications is included in the handouts. These include a way to request their free monthly newsletter, Lifer-Line.

Lifer Parole Packet (pdf) updated May 2017
Compiled by Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. This guide is a compilation of resources from UnCommon Law, Life Support Alliance, & the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition to help Lifers navigate the parole process, including the psychological evaluations.

Webinar: Parole After SHU from April 11, 2017
There are two videos, one is a training for parole attorneys and family advocates, and the second is a community presentation specifically for people with family members currently in or recently released from SHU to General Population. There are also links at the bottom of the page with related materials.

Transcript (Part 1) from Oct 7, 2017 Parole After SHU Seminar (pdf),/span>

Rethinking Parole for Long-term SHU Prisoners (pdf) prepared March 2017

Tips from Hearings (pdf) from Life Support Alliance newsletter October 2017

Psychological Effects of Long Term SHU (pdf)

Some Reflections on the Effects of Long Term SHU: Imprisoned Responses to Reading Excerpts from Dr. Terry Kupers’ Report (pdf) 2017

Build Unity: Don’t let CDC undermine the Agreement to End Hostilities

by Jalil Muntaqim   Sept. 18, 2015

The hunger strike victory – settlement of the class action suit against solitary confinement – is fantastic, but now, more hard work confronts them all. They will continue to be in a relentless fight to prevent COs (correctional officers) from destroying the unity and continued political determination of the vision for prison reform in California.

Obviously, there will come a time in which the prisoners will need to essentially rebrand, identify and complete what they started – the five demands – and to ensure the sustainability of organizing as well as build capacity to grow the work into a substantial statewide political campaign for prison reform. I sincerely hope they will consider this victory as a tactical victory, not a strategic one – especially when parole decisions continue to be constricted and there is an ongoing need for more programs that serve to support prisoners for their return to the community.

In fact, I hope they will begin the process of floating a proposal to broaden the overall campaign for prison and parole reform and ultimately end mass incarceration – demand abolition. If they can successfully make this transition, they will certainly create the paradigm for the country to replicate.

One of the first things that must be done as part of the transition and to move the prison-cultural-psychological determinant forward would be to educate the prison and public about how the state will seek to undermine their success. For example, publications should have issues solely devoted to incidents in which state officials (COs) attempt to undermine the Agreement to End Hostilities.

I hope they will begin the process of floating a proposal to broaden the overall campaign for prison and parole reform and ultimately end mass incarceration – demand abolition. If they can successfully make this transition, they will certainly create the paradigm for the country to replicate.

It is these testimonies and examples of fight-back that can serve to strengthen the capacity to build unity and uniformity in the fight. Secondly, this would broaden the future vision of the campaign from the inside out and then the outside in. I imagine family members and loved ones will want to concentrate on parole issues and prison medical and health concerns as the next major issues to be tackled.

Jalil Muntaqim

Jalil has been imprisoned since 1971 when, at the age of 19, he was active in the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. He spent from 1975-77 in San Quentin before being sent to New York state prisons. Send our brother some love and light: Anthony Bottom, 77A4283, Attica Correctional Facility, P.O. Box 149, Attica, NY 14011-0149.

This was published in the SF Bay View:
http://sfbayview.com/2015/09/build-unity-dont-let-cdc-undermine-the-agreement-to-end-hostilities/

Help Get Life-Sustaining Publications To Prisoners

Donate for a subscription to a prisoner. Specify with your donation or subscription that you want it to cover the cost of mailing the paper to someone locked inside.  Provide an address if you have a specific person in mind. $20 will cover a year subscription for any one of these papers!* Donate what you can for vital publications!

The Fire Inside (CA Coalition for Women Prisoners)
info@womenprisoners.org  (415) 255-7036 ext 4
http://womenprisoners.org

Prison Focus (CA Prison Focus) contact@prisons.org
(510) 836-7222 http://www.prisons.org/publications.htm

ROCK! mead@rocknewsletter.com  (206) 271-5003
http://www.rocknewsletter.com/

San Francisco Bay View   *$24 please, if possible editor@sfbayview.com  (415) 671-0789
http://sfbayview.com/about/

Turning the Tide (Anti-Racist Action Publishers)
antiracistaction_la@yahoo.com  (323) 636-7388
www.antiracist.org

2015 Prison Resource Directory    FREE
If you know someone in prison, send their address to Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC), so they can receive a free 2015 Directory. Consider donating: info@prisonactivist.org https://www.prisonactivist.org/resources

HANDOUTS, FLIERS & POSTING MATERIALS for Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement

If you need copies sent to you of any of these materials for use in your actions, please contact phssreachingout@gmail.com or call (510) 426-5322.

• Together to End Solitary Brochure – 1 page, both sides, fold

• Universal HANDBILL-Statewide Coordinated Actions  1 page, both sides (here is a version for double-sided printers) print “Fit to Page”, fold
  

In California, we have changed the date to the 24th of every month.  We no longer do this action on the 23rd of every month.

_______________________________________________ The above links allow you to download and print the materials made specifically for anyone participating in Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement (24th of each month). Below are several download links for recommended materials to hand out during such actions.  Good educational materials. Coming soon: a handout of Frequently Asked Questions and the Answers, and all handouts in Spanish & English.

• Small Handout: Donate for People to Get Vital Publications Inside Prison 1 page, one side, 4-on-a-page; great to use as inserts in Handbills!

• Statement to the Streets and All Youth Lock-ups, Agreement to End Hostilities 1 page, both sides

• Acuerdo Para Poner Fin a Enemistades, Agreement to End Hostilities 1 page, both sides

• Fact Sheet-CA Solitary Confinement 1 page, both sides,
  

• Human Rights Pen Pal Flyer  1 page, both sides
  

• 2 Similar Handouts to Stop “Security Welfare Checks in Pelican Bay SHU:
  Emergency Action Alert- Stop Sleep Deprivation 1 page, both sides, 2-on-a-page
  Handout_StopSleepDeprivation 1 page, both sides, 2-on-a-page

• Proposals For Action 2013-Pelican Bay SHU Short Corridor Collective 1 page, one side, 2 on each page

• Alcatraz To Pelican Bay 1 page, one side

• CHANTS-End Solitary Confinement 1 page, both sides

• Why the US Won’t Let the UN in Its Prisons-3-16-15 1 page, both sides

• Universal GENERAL Flier-Statewide Coordinated Actions 1 page, one side, no space for details  In California, we have changed the date to the 24th of every month.  We no longer do this action on the 23rd of every month.

Use this Pelican* for your facebook event Cover Photo.  Choose the art or photo for your event Profile Picture.

*We honor Peter Collins who was a long-term activist incarcerated in Canada. He drew the Pelican for the CA Prisoner Hunger Strikes. Peter died from cancer Aug.13, 2015 in prison, having been refused compassionate release. He was an astute social critic of the structures of violence in the world around us (colonialism, racism, sexism, ableism, imperialism, transphobia, misogyny etc). Peter was a writer, artist, cartoonist, activist, scholar & organizer with a great sense of humor and humanity. He was a staunch animal rights advocate. A vegan, Peter believed in principles of ‘do no harm’ to others.