Image: Stephen Wilson, an incarcerated abolitionist organizer and educator with In the Belly and Dreaming Freedom Studying Abolition study group, is pictured above. (Source: Stevie Wilson)
This interview comes as Justin Kaliebe continues to be held in indefinite solitary confinement at FCI Jesup. Just, spoke out about a state sponsored mass Covid-19 infection in July. Currently they are facing medical neglect and censorship. Stay tuned for solidarity actions.
#PrisonsKill: Just spoke out about the Covid-19 conditions, then was sent to the hole. Is this familiar to you and your experience(s)? Why is writing about what’s happening threatening?
Stephen Wilson: COVID19. Very familiar. I was sent to the hole on 4–7 after I did an interview expressing support for prisoners on Rikers.
PK: Just is no longer able to write the reports they were writing. How is the struggle to end censorship connected to the struggle to abolish all carceral structures/logics? Could a prison exist without censorship?
SW: I always tell people that the walls are not only here to keep us in but also to keep the public out. They don’t want you to know what is really happening inside. No DOC has ever disclosed abuses that take place inside. Abuses must be brought to light by others.
The new censorship in PA is nondistribution. We get books and mail sent in but never receive them. If you can’t think it, then you cannot do it. Censorship, arbitrary prohibition of knowledge acquisition is critical to prison.
PK: Just’s advocacy is certainly not only outside facing. What are some of the challenges that inside (dis)organizers face? Have Covid lockdowns/restrictions changed anything?
SW: We face challenges from the administration. From other prisoners, really I call them inmates. And sometimes, outside activists, mainly reformers who promote solutions that often hurt us.
Time out of cells has been the major restriction in PA. We are opening up gradually here because western PA wasn’t hit as hard as eastern PA. Prisoners are developing a more cooperative mindset. We realize we have to work together to get through this crisis.
PK: The president has called antifa a domestic terrorist organization. Just was being “investigated” because outside contacts of theirs had “ties to antifa.” Other incarcerated people have been openly calling Just a terrorist. Why is that happening? How does the state use incarcerated people to maintain its control?
SW: Antifa bullshit. A tyrant will always find a justification for their actions. Those inmates who call Just names are crazy. The officers are terrorists. Why don’t they oppose them or call them out. Believe me, all of that is supported by and instigated by prisoners, probably white racists.
PK: How can we build more unity among those behind the walls? Why is that important? What would it really look like?
SW: We have to work across differences. Seriously. Like we don’t have to be the same to work together. Prisoners know very little about coalition building ,alliances or solidarity. We have to educate and demonstrate these things.
PK: Just has spent much of the last two months in the box but has not been found guilty of anything. What role does solitary play in maintaining control/discouraging dissent? Is that similar to the role of prison in our broader society?
SW: Solitary was designed to shut organizers down. What vexes me is that solitary was a major issue a few years ago. Now it has disappeared from the radar, like we have solved that issue. This is what happens when reformers get involved. They mute the movement.
PK: Since Just has been in the box it has been very difficult for them to get letters out to loved ones and accomplices in struggle. What is it like to be in that situation? What is it like to be in prison and have a comrade taken to the box?
SW: I just came out of the hole on 9–9. My comrade won’t be out til early October. So I know what Just’s is going through. I always say this: I am a fighter. And every fighter knows that he or she will be hit inside the ring. I don’t care how good you are, you will be hit. So I expect them to do the dumb shit sometimes. But what keeps me going is that I have one hell of a corner. They know how to keep my head up and in the fight. We have to be Just’s corner right now.
PK: How does hearing about Just and what’s happening to them affect you personally? What would you say to them if the two of you could be together?
SW: I was angry when I heard what Just is going through. I wish I could physically reach out and share that space.
I want them to know that I am here, lifting and loving them. And we will get through this. I want to hear from Just.
Always,
Stevie
In the box, prisoners totally rely on letters for news and for something to take their mind of the psychological torture they are going through. You can write to Just at this address:
Justin Kaliebe #81912–053
Federal Correctional Institution
2680 US Hwy 301 South
Jesup, GA, 31599
Send articles, poems, essays. Please use white lined paper, no more than five pages per envelope. Do not send any colored paper.
#PrisonsKill 