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Vol. LXXV

Grinnell. Iowa, Friday, February I6, [968

 

Shh QilEtlTlTl GONVICTS TlihEATEN STRIKE TG M

Convicts at San Quentin said
they will refuse to repon to
work at the prison industries
on February 16, 1933 —— today.

By JAMES SCHREIBER
LIBERATION News Service

BERKELEY, Calit,, February
16 (LNS) a Only the real under-
ground of imprisoned men can
tell you the trutll about San
Quentin prlsall. Freedom of the
Press, including all mass me—
dia, stops at the well.

Bill under the noses of their
guards, a group ol San Quen-
till convicts has published an
underground newspaper. illegal-
ly, every week since June, 1567.
“The Outlaw,” printed by mim-
eo or ditto process, continues
to appear on schedule through-
out the prison despite the fact
that all duplicating machines
are now kept locked except in
the presence at an official.

The “Goon Squadua spe-
cial group oi security oiiicers
——Iias been relentlessly shaking
down Cells and inmates sus-
pected oi working on the tor-
hidden paper. So tar they’ve
failed. “The Outlaw" continues
to appear weekly on the war-
den's desk.

Similar illegal papers have
begun at Folsom and Soledad:
“The Outlaw II” and “The
Rebel."

CONS AND CENSORS

If they catch an inmate read-
ing “The Outlaw,“ they put him
in the hole tor 29 days, The
hole—ally of the isolation Cells
in B sectioniis stripped bare.
Outstretched hands can touch
the sltle walls. Five bleak, llat
luriaces, a door of steel bars,
and a hole in the floor to empty
your bowels into. [or a month.

While the Com is in the hole,
the Warden will be smiling at
the press cameras, posing with
a copy of “The Outlaw" in his
hands—as it it's just a harm-
less prank no one really cares
about.

The press is not allowed in
side the wall, past the ilowered
green area at the administra-
tion building just inside the
iragiic fence, When word or
trouble at San Quentin leaks
out, you hear only what the
prison authorities want you to
hear. You never hear the in-
niates' story. You never read
what “The Outlaw" says

Now a collection at “The

Outlaw" has reached the Berle
eley BARB, The “underground"
press with an open otiice,
phones, and street sales, reprints
the news published within the
conlines ol a miniature totall-
tan'an state where the Consti-

tution is void and the whim of
the meaty guard is law.

BUREAUCRACY
BUILT 0N LIES

“The Outlaw" states that pri-
son oilicials are accomplished
liars, propitiating their own
bureaucracy. “The Outlaw” says
it has a hidden the ot docua
ments liited iroin otiiciai pris-
on records to prove all its
statements,

"The Outlaw" says the San
Quentin urace riot” at January
13. 1967, was actually a turkey-
shoot staged by custodial per-
sonnel to head air a Reagan
budget cut.

“The Outlaw" says it can
prove that labric mentioned at
San Quentin was illegally sold
to a company in Japan, using
convict labor to undersell pri-
vate industry.

That millions of dollars from
the Inmate Welfare Fund was
misappropriated to build more
prison iaciliiies while actual
inmate weliare items were de-
nied for “lack 0i funds.”

That much oi the rehabilita-
tion program is a farce, a hypn-
Critical pretense used to hide
the {acts about the California
Department or Corrections, but
not designed to help an inmate
earn a legal income after his
release.

Now, having established con-
tact with the outside, the coir
victs at San Quentin are ready
to hold a new protest, scheduled
ior today, Febl‘uaiy ls.

Today. they will go quietly

to their Cells instead of to [hair
jobs, except those necessary to
maintalll the prison.

For the first time, the out-
side world of free men—that's
What the Elms call us-—Will
know in advance what the
”trouble” at San Quentin is
really about. No matter what
tlle prison officials tell the mass
media next month, you know
exactly what the inmates were
planning and why they were
doing it.

MANIPULATION INTO
VIOLENCE

One problem iace d by the
cons is to avoid being manipu-
lated into a position where the
custody stall can create a vio-
lent situation. You will see from
the first item printed here from
“The Outlaw" that their de-
mands are not the ravtngs ot
madnien, and that their n0-
worlr protest technique is de-
signed to avold physical con-
flict. The cons know that via-
Ience can only mean more
guards and tighter rules.

Their only weapon is to make
their story known, hoping that
public opinion will pressure
honest state legislators to make
a thorough investigation of the
Calilornia prison system, with-
out iavoritism to the entrenched
bureaucracy. What the con-
victs ask (or, in essence, is a
Department oi Corrections which
actually does what it claims to
be doingvhelping convicted men
find a legitimate role in the
workings oi the tree society
when they leave prison.

Here is what a recent Jan-
uary issue ot “The Outlaw"
says about the forthcoming San
Quentin convicts’ demonstra—
tion:

On February 16, 1968, those
areas which will be exempt
(tom the movement will be as
follows: These areas are es-
sential and should continue to
operate. 1) hospital; 2) mess
hall; 3) boiler room; 4) block
Worker.

Let us take the opportunity
to assure each other and every-
one else that we can be suc-
cessiul ii, and only it, we re-
main united. The ellorts at each
man will be vital to the ulti-
mate outcome.

On February is, 1968, the eyes

PROTEST “WHITMAN" TREATMENT BY WARDENS

lain pressures upon this Ad-
ministration in order to compel
them to make the necessary
changes that will enable us to
maintain a freedom of our own
thoughts and expres one, to ac<
cept the responsi ies which
are necessary it we are to
function as independent il‘ileL
duals once we are returned
to society.

We must not let ourselves
come to rely upon this Admin-
istration to do our thinking ior
us, mainly because their think-
ing has. tor the most part,
proven to be wrong as is evi.
dencerl by the return, in large
numbers, ol prisoners who have
been paroled, time and again,
only to return and have their

I K DID YOU EVER HAVE TO MAKE UP
ﬂ 2‘ YOUR MIND? For the Scarlet & Black’s

SGA Candidate See Page 2.

of many people will focus upon
you. convicts and tree people
alike, anxious, awaiting to see
it we have the ability and
courage to stand up for some-
thing Worthwhile. Let's not dis-
appoint them. Above all, let us
not disappoint ourselves, Unity,
that’s what we need,

PRESSURE FOR FREEDOM

We are convicts who have
grown tired ot the present do-
nothing policy oi this AdminisA
nation, and who have joined
with certain members of the
staff, as well as people on the
outside, in order to apply cer-

term reiixed by the adult Au.
thority in accordance with Res.
Olutinn 171 which is nothing
more than an Administration
rule, established by the Adult
Authority itseli in order to give
it the power to violate the United
States Constitution.

Violence is not necessary. We
must not resort to any type at
violence, otherwise we will tie-
stroy what we have worked so
hard to gain.

We of the

“Outlaw" have

OUTLAW—
(Coiitlnued on Page 1)

XWWWWWWWWWVWWWW§

A gentleman representlng at Chicago area drait reslslanm agency known as
CADRE talked a little about prison life as an alternative to the Selective Service the
other dav hi the South Lounge. “From what we can ﬁnd out train the inside," lie told a
small group, “It really isn‘t as horrible as we’ve been told. You have the same pmb-
leni you have anywhere — what to do with your time,"

Certainly the group or convicts who edit the illicit underground newspaper “The
Outlaw" at San Quentin would disagree with the CADRE representative. For the ﬁrst
time in the history or California penitentiaries, the prisoners have been able to get their
own descriptions or penal llle to the outside world. The description contained in this
extra copy from Liberation News Services Student Communication Network isn't very

pleasant

This is the lrlnd oi news you can‘t ilnd in the Des Moines Register or even News.
weelr or the New York Times; it’s simply too controversial, You won‘t had it in most
college or underground newspapers, because it’s frankly too long In run.

The strike at San Quentin scheduled for today is on event that win pmbably I»
played down in general news media, But it’s ixilerestiiig to hear what it’s really like

from the inside. . . .

hammmmmmmmmammm

 

