by Outlaw Man
First of all, Control Units are not what they appear to be. They are not designed to create better people, they are meant to torture and torment the mind into thought control. If they were for the purpose of trying to help, they would not be done in the manner in which they are done. Some states have named these units Security Threat Group Managemanet Units (STGMU). The veil is that they are meant to curtail violence in the Prison System, however unity in communist and totalitarian systems are considered threats to that Security. This is that for which they are designed.
Control Units were used by various people over the years. Russia locked up the leaders of the Polish Solidarity Union in such units.They also locked up the heirarchy of the churches that, in their veiw , posed a theat to the Communist way of thinking. Control Units are also used in many Totalitarian systems. They are a means to control any thought of the people who demand humane treatment from it's overbearing Government. Prisoners have no real voice in their treatment. Walls are built around the prison so that the outside does not see what goes on within more so than to keep prisoners from escaping. For that purpose, fences and towers serve the same purpose.
Control Units use deprivation as a means to their end. You are placed in this self-contained unit, allowed--according to the policy--NO HUMAN CONTACT. Yet they do at times allow contact with other prisoners they deem as your fellow core members of your particular group. Hence, you get the understanding that they do not consider you to be human. To emphasize this, they give you your court ordered recreation period in a dog type kennel. This is to strip you of the dignity of being human. If you want to be treated like a human again, they will require that you abandon your own beliefs and let them teach you how to act in the proper manner of being a human according to THEIR standards of how people should act. [This has nothing to do with breaking any prison rules or committing an act of violence--it is nothing to do with the rehabilitation of a criminal mind--purely stated--this is mind control in one of it's finest moment's--Jake] They deprive you of food. Though the menu is the same as that in General Population, the portions are smaller than that which would be given to a four-year-old child. Just enough to allow you a bowel movement. Hunger makes the mind more susceptible to the captor. Just ask any Vietnam P.O.W. (at least the ones that were returned to us), and you will see that control units were used by the North on them and were to a degree effective.
You are not allowed to communicate in any way with any other person within the prison system, so you feel isolated. The purpose of this isn't so you can't continue your "activities" as they would have the public believe, but rather, so you can't put up much of a legal defense. The para-legals sent onto that unit are hand picked by the administration. Some of these para-legals can do nothing to help, as by the time an action makes it into the stage of being heard, you will have been released from the unit and that moots any legal action. Hence, you are in a catch-22 situation. [An interesting note here is that often after the prisoner has been released back to general population, he will more than likely be sent back to the control unit and the legal process goes back to square one! Like a game of ping-pong!--Jake]
After you are there for a period of three months, they give you a way out of the unit. Now in some states, you must give up your friends and adhere to the beliefs of the administration to be eligible for release. In my state, however, you simply have to sign a paper promising never to participate in Security Threat Group (STG) activities again. The Government does not care if you lie on this paper, as long as you sign it. It makes the claim that you did not sign under duress and it is the only way out of STGMU. If this is not under duress or coercion, then what is the definition of coercion?
In the next phase of the programming you are forced to agree to lock with someone other than your own "group" and the choice is not yours. In my case, I was locked with a young NETA my first time through this "program", and a Latin King my next time through. I got along with both--we are after all in the same boat, so to speak. We didn't really have a lot in common to talk about, but I was luckier than some. At least they both spoke english well so that we could share a few conversations now and then.
In the next phases, your are constantly told that you are addicted to violence. Now I have been incarcerated into my fifteenth year, and during this time I have had ONE fight. I hardly consider that an addiction. They veil this under the assumption that if you belong to a group of people there is something wrong with you. None of the so-called counselors could explain their belonging to Fraternities and rectify why this was different than belonging to a Motorcycle Club. When I confronted them with the injustice of it all, three counselors quit, so as not to sell out their profession. Others stayed, citing "well this is how it is and you just have to learn to accept that society dictates what is and what is not acceptable". I further questioned these remaining counselors concerning the First Amendment Right of Freedom of Association, where I was quickly reminded that I was in Prison and did not have the same rights as do those members of society outside the wall. However, my alleged associations for which I was placed in STGMU for having were based on those I had before I was incarcerated, I responded. Their answer was "this program can help you to learn to accept others". That was never my problem. As a hard core scooter tramp, I have trouble being accepted by J. Q. Socety--not the other way around!
This will not change without outside intervention. After all, Prisoners of this fine country have no right under the Constitution to be true to their hearts! If Bikers in the Free World do not stand up for those locked behind the Wall, the day will come when the Government will take away the right to be a Biker. If you believe that the Government can't do that then do nothing and sleep away, while they come like a thief in the night and take your right to be you. Only you can help.
by Outlaw Man
(with a little teeny bit of editing by Jake) ;)
READ OUTLAW MAN'S JOURNAL DURING HIS FINAL MONTHS INSIDE A CONTROL UNIT
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