The TITLE of this topic is an adage known for many ages, and has stood the test of “time,” as well. And, yet, we, as prisoners, still fail to apply it to our plight inside these confines. Hmmmm? So, then, when the “MAN” continues to treat you oppressively, please simply sit back, accepting the disparaging treatment w/o uttering even a syllable of protest. However, when I, along with a few of the “CHOSEN,” exercise our RIGHTS to speak out against tyrrany and despotism and the redress of grievances and the right to “throw-off-the-bonds” that unite us, under the Declaration of Indepence; and The U.S. Constitution and Its Amendments, and when WE WIN, THEN, don’t come crawling for us to cover you under our hard-won blanket of protection. ANYONE who chooses to not “Rock-The-Boat,” as it were, THEN just keep on playing it safe.

Many have already seen or heard of the “National Call to Action” concerning prison “conditions” when it comes to our either Simply LIVING or DYING under the hoorid conditions: the substandard medical care, the totally nutrient-deprived diets, the moments when 6-7 staff, dressed-to-the-nines-in-full-riot-gear, beat one helpless inmate half to death. Or what about financial exploitation of us, via the misappropriation of Federal Funding, because — for example, here in The Va. Commonwealth’s Dept. of Corrections — they have us “Sign-Up” for Federally-funded programs, but one NEVER actually attends. So, they are ON THE LIST, and the Commonwealth gets the money, but NO INMATE EVER benefits from the money. O, a few go through the motions, and it all looks good ON PAPER, but in reality, someone is pocketing those dollars somehow or another. One inmate was “on-the-list” for the Federally-funded program “Thinking For A Change” for about 20-years, and every year he went up for parole and they (the Parole Board) “wondered” out loud, “…after 20-years, why he had not completed the program?” He rightly said: “How? I have never actually been in it?” So, the parole interviewer questioned the counselor about THIS case in point, and now all of a sudden the man is allowed to ACTUALLY participate in the program. But, wait, what happened to those funds provided for, under his name, for 2-decades? Where are they? In fact, where are the Federal funds for the nearly 400,000 inmates whos names were on these LISTS for Federally-funded programs, here in Virginia, over that past 20 (+) years, alone? That’s right! Four Hundred-Thousand inmates that have been processed into the Commonwealth of Virginia’s. Dept. Of Correction’s, whose names were exploited, for nearly 20 – years. Where is THAT money?

Yet, you, the self-righteous citizen paying taxes for all this BS, sit on your laurels while ALL of your Rights are eroding behind these confines. Do you not even know that EVERY right you have has lost its force within the confines of these judicial pretentions?

Again, I say: UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!

Mark Blain, #1154225
Nottoway Corr. Ctr.
P. O. Box 488
Burkeville, Va. 23922