[Ppnews] Buried Alive on San Quentin's Death

[Political Prisoner News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/kerr09042007.html

September 4, 2007


The Continuing Saga of Steve Champion and Anthony Ross in the Wake of 
Tookie Williams' Execution


Buried Alive on San Quentin's Death

By TOM KERR

When death row inmates are subjected to degrading and grossly unjust 
treatment, the rest of us ought to pay close attention, whether we 
subscribe to Mathew:40 or not: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one 
of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Prisons 
officials are public officials, acting on our behalf, presumably for 
our benefit. If through our inattention or neglect we license prison 
officials to mistreat prisoners-some of the most helpless, abject 
souls among us-we license public officials to treat the public at 
large with contempt.

In its broad outline, Steve and Anthony's story, which I first began 
to tell in January 2006 (see "Why are They Rounding Up Tookie 
Williams' Friends?"), is straightforward. A few days prior to 
William's execution on December 13, 2005, they along with several 
other inmates were rounded up and detained in the Adjustment Center, 
San Quentin death row's "hole," on charges they had conspired to 
retaliate against prison officials for their friend's execution. For 
the past twenty months, they have been held there in stark cells on 
property control and with no phone privileges. From day one, both men 
have vehemently denied involvement in any kind of conspiracy. Indeed, 
judging by their many and varied writings, both have long-since 
transcended their violent gang pasts, explicitly repudiating, as did 
their friend Tookie Williams, the sorts of values, beliefs, and 
behaviors that fuel gangs and destroy communities. Both men, however, 
are award-winning prison writers and outspoken critics of San Quentin 
and the prison industrial complex in general. And therein lies the rub.

As I reprise their never-ending story, over a year and a half in now, 
the question of credibility looms large. Why should I, much less 
anyone else, believe two condemned men, two people who have nothing 
to lose by lying, and, perhaps, something to gain in the form of 
winning the sympathies of supporters and drawing the attention of 
prison critics.

But the same kind of logic can be used to establish the credibility 
of our informants. Unlike many of us living "free," they have nothing 
to lose-jobs or social standing-by telling the bald truth. In a 
recent letter to me, Anthony Ross notes: "We have nothing to hide, 
which is more than I can say about them."

As with any institution, the more corrupt a prison, the greater its 
stake in polishing its image, preserving it legitimacy, and 
squelching stories that subvert the official one it tells the public 
about itself. And near-absolute power, of the kind prison officials 
hold over death row inmates, can too easily, through all manner of 
manipulation, cripple the people who would tell subversive stories. 
If you think corporate whistler blowers take risks, imagine blowing 
the whistle from inside a death row prison cell.

In becoming well-read, self-reflective thinkers and accomplished 
writers while in the hell of death row, these two men, like Tookie 
Williams himself, have symbolically defeated the system designed to 
dehumanize and, ultimately, to destroy them. Through their essays, 
stories, and poems, they have vehemently insisted on their humanity 
and steadfastly maintained their dignity. Such self-redemptive effort 
undermines the familiar and necessary assumption that men sentenced 
to death have, by their own conduct, forfeited their humanity-have 
become, as is often suggested, "animals." And we can kill animals, so 
the magical thinking goes, without becoming animals ourselves. If we 
can kill them with impunity, all the more reason we can mistreat them 
in the meantime. Who will care? Who will defend them? People for the 
Ethical Treatment of Animals?

The human voices of Ross and Champion put the whole inhumane, 
barbaric American killing apparatus on trial, and such a reversal cannot stand.

The darkly ironic truth revealed by Steve and Anthony's interminable 
ordeal is that San Quentin officials themselves are the ones 
conspiring to retaliate-against the late Tookie Williams and his 
friends! For what? For liberating themselves and for expressing their 
humanity in writing-while still in confinement on America's morally 
bankrupt death row.

Of course, the ins and outs of the tale are complicated, involving 
false charges, time-devouring grievance procedures, published 
articles, various letters and documents, and lots of bone crushing 
time in the hole for Anthony and Steve. The opaque complexity of 
disciplinary procedures and appeals in prison is itself very often 
strategic, yet another way to punish inmates and confound 
transparency and accountability. Who on the outside can possibly stay 
abreast of internal prison proceedings? Who can possibly bear witness?

On occasion, however, moments of clarity present themselves, and 
Anthony Ross has seized upon one of these as the occasion for the 
following article, which I quote below in its entirety. I received 
this article and a copy of the document Ross refers to (Form # 
CDC-128-B (4-74)) on August 28, 2007. Although I cannot reproduce the 
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) 
document here, I can attest to its prima facie authenticity and 
official form and format.

Writing Under Fire: Resisting the Regime
by Anthony Ross

"Neither hegemony nor power can determine truth."

-Prof. Molefi Kete Asante

In May 2007, my brother Steve Champion and I co-authored an articled 
entitled "The Paradigm of Abuse: San Quentin's Adjustment Center 
Revisited," which was published in The San Francisco Bay View 
newspaper. In this article, we mention George Jackson to illustrate 
the stark similarities between the hostile environment of the 
Adjustment Center (AC) in 1971 and the hostile environment of the AC 
in 2007. This comparison was based on factual events and personal 
experience and is demonstrative of both eras. Now we have received a 
CDCR 128 Report that targets us for investigation into gang activity. 
According to the report, the basis for this is our use of the word 
"comrade" in relation to George Jackson. According to Agent T. De La 
Rosa, this constitutes gang sympathy or association, and anyone who 
uses the term "comrade" (a name descriptive of George Jackson) must 
be, ipso facto, a gang member.

This notion of a priori culpability, whereby one's very philosophy, 
ideas, or character renders them criminal, suggests an insidious and 
racist mindset within the CDCR. Yet such flights of myopic thinking 
are common features of a system wherein humanity and justice have 
been supplanted by degrading abuse and repressive prison policies 
[see the Bay View article mentioned above].

I am reminded of the weeks and days leading up to the execution of 
our brother Stanley Tookie Williams. San Quentin Spokesman Vernell 
Crittenden went on a virulent smear campaign to paint Tookie as an 
active gang member, offering no proof and despite the fact that 
Tookie had been cleared of any gang association by the former Warden, 
Jennie S. Woodford. Then, of course, in his statement justifying his 
denial of clemency, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger argued that since 
Tookie had mentioned Malcolm X, Assata Shukur, George Jackson, and 
Geronimo Pratt in his book on prison life, Life in Prison, he could 
not have redeemed himself.

This pattern of criminalizing and vilifying black leaders and 
personages is an old one. And some San Quentin officials are taking 
this practice a step farther by making the mere mention of a name a 
gang offense. This bizarre leap of flawed logic provides them with an 
erroneous catalyst for action against us. It sets in motion a 
malicious process that can disrupt our mail, personal property, 
visits, and trust account-indefinitely!

There is a real and present danger here. This intentional misreading 
of language makes it possible to write up any prisoner who elects to 
use certain appellations in his writings, such as comrade, chairman, 
minister, brother, homeboy, etc.

The retaliatory targeting of prison writers has a clear objective: to 
intimidate and discourage those voices willing to expose violations 
of basic human rights and degrading conditions in prison. If 
successful, this strategy becomes an unwritten policy for censorship 
and will eventually leave only one version, one interpretation, of 
life in the CDCR-that of the CDCR!

It is worth noting that our Bay View article consisted of over 1,300 
words, yet only three-"comrade George Jackson"-were plucked from 
their context and reinterpreted as something criminal or, worse, 
seditious. Agent T. De La Rosa's semantic alchemy defies the criteria 
for gang activity as defined in the CDCR rules and regulations, as 
well as the standard set forth in the 1994 case Castillo v. Alameida, 
Jr. [No. 94-2974], which establish specific guidelines for gang 
identification. The use of the word "comrade" is not included in 
either of these sources.

It is a relatively easy matter to persecute us. There is no real 
redress here. The inmate appeal process is controlled by the very 
people who violate policy and abuse prisoners. Now, the intent is to 
silence truth.

P.S. During a unit search on July 11, 2007, all of my writing paper 
was confiscated and all of Steve Champion's reference books were 
taken. We were never given a reason for this. We believe it was a 
blatant attempt to disrupt the writing projects we are currently 
working on. Since December 2005, we have been isolated in the 
Adjustment Center on the bogus allegation of conspiracy to assault 
staff in the wake of Stanley Tookie Williams' execution. We are in an 
on-going legal battle to fight this false charge and regain our 
dignity and the very modest "privileges" afforded to death row 
prisoners. To these ends, we are seeking legal assistance and/or 
monetary donations [see contact information at the end of this article].

When we consider how hard it is to confront the deceptions and lies 
of this country's leaders, including Bush, Cheney, Libby, Gonzales 
and others, we can only imagine the daunting challenge faced by death 
row prisoners confronting deceptions and lies perpetrated by their 
keepers. There are no meaningful checks and balances. And with the 
exception of some mainstream, highly sensationalized and largely 
pro-prison, media depictions of life inside our prison industrial 
complex, the system, as a whole and in its parts, remains a closed 
book-a black hole in a putatively open society.

As their editor and long-time correspondent, I am convinced that 
Steve Champion and Anthony Ross, with no help from San Quentin, have 
in their twenty-five years on death row made themselves over. They 
have evolved from young, admittedly violent gang members into mature, 
thoughtful men who have reflected long and hard on their past lives 
and on their present circumstances as black men on death row in 
America. Although they might, like most of us, defend themselves if 
attacked, both have become strong advocates of non-violent remedies 
to personal and political problems. They have become writers who can 
tell the stories of their transformation and defend themselves 
against degrading treatment and excessively punitive prison policies, 
and for this they have been buried alive on death row.

You can write either man to express your concern or offer support at 
these addresses:

Anthony Ross, C-58000, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94964

Steve Champion, C-58001, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94964

Tom Kerr is Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric and Ithaca 
College. You can email him at <mailto:tkerr at ithaca.edu>tkerr at ithaca.edu.




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