"Revolutionary consciousness is the only real hope of those oppressed by the system." - George L. Jackson.

Across the U.S. "prisons within prisons" are proliferating. These units used for solitary confinement go by bland and bureaucratic names like Security Housing Units, Closed Custody, Management Control Units or Special Confinement Units. Prison officials seem to feel they need a type of second sentencing at their disposal, one without the due process strings of state and federal law.

Prisons and control units alike are also a warden's dream solution for neutralizing convicts who have shown leadership potential, intelligence, legal expertise, integrity, independent thought, ethnic pride or allegiance to a higher power. The threat of being placed in these control units also produces a chilling effect, pressuring individuals to remain unaffiliated, extremely passive and vulnerable.

For these very reasons and many others, SHUs pose special dangers to prisoners' souls as well as their bodies, minds and relationships to the outside world. And among other things as well, it poses dangers to our First Amendment rights and freedoms of expression, association and religion.

Here in Carlisle, Indiana, the Wabash Valley correctional facility also houses the Special Confinement Unit (SCU). This is a 23-hour-a-day lockdown no-contact facility. The only contact we have is when we're being placed in restraints and escorted by several pigs holding a dog leash hooked onto the handcuffs. We are also not allowed any contact with our family, children, supporters and friends.

For the entire prisoner population here on the SCU, visits were once behind a thick glass window and communication was through a two-way telephone. These visits have long placed undue hardships on prisoners and our families. These visits were only one hour and only extended for families coming from as far as Chicago or Gary, Indiana. Traveling close to four hours here and then four hours back home is inhumane and dehumanizing. Then to not to be able to even physically touch our family members is tantamount to unwarranted punishment placed upon our loved ones.

On Nov. 26, 2007, prisoncrats in charge of the special confinement unit (SCU) engaged in another act of repression. They instituted yet another visitation change that further isolates our families and those we love away from us. For some strange reason, all SCU visits are now on a status called video screen monitoring. This procedure has now taken away our ability to actually see one another.

The no-contact visits at least allowed us to sit across from one another with a glass wall separating the visitors. Phones allowed for clear communication. Yet now we can only see one family member at a time on a video computer screen. It cuts the view at the heads and shoulders.

Only 10 visitor booths are available on this entire unit. These are four units on A-East Pod, A-West Pod, B-East pod and B-West Pod. Each Pod houses 72 prisoners, for a total of 227 for the capacity population. There is one cell on every range, 24 ranges in total, that are equipped with a computer for transferring the feed from the area where our families are to pinpoint our location.

This system is flawed, but they are not concerned about that. If 10 families show up all at once, and then if five more show up, there will be no room to facilitate them. Complications such as people's visits being cut short will be a constant reality.

We were never afforded the opportunity or the due process right to challenge these visits. No one at this facility issued a memorandum, directive or policy mandating the approved go ahead to implement them. In essence, these prisoncrats just went ahead and did it, saying damn the consequences.

Since the visits started, prisoners have filed several complaints that the screen is not clear. They do not allow our families to see us clearly - the camera causes us to look down at the computer screen, and our loved ones can only view the top of our head. This is absolutely wrong, cruel and dehumanizing.

Reasons why the visits are wrong:

1. These visits are placing restrictions and punishment on our visitors.
2. There was no reason for computer visits when there was no contact with the outside previously anyway.
3. The privacy of face to face communication was taken away.
4. Such isolation does more to discourage a visitor than it does to encourage them to want to come here.
5. This is not in accord with Indiana Department of Corrections standards, which claim to promote rehabilitation. This will break up families.
6. This visiting procedure further isolates prisoners from those they love instead of trying to keep them together.
7. Prisoners will not be able to see what officials their families or loved ones will come into contact with. They are left vulnerable to the whimsical nature of the officials working here.
8. The computer screen visitation system doesn't work right. This form of visitation should be discontinued as soon as possible.

What the outside can do to help

Help us expose the inhumane conditions surrounding this new procedure of video screen visitation. The prisoncrats at this facility claim that Commissioner J. David Donahue ordered video visitation. So we must demand an end to this dehumanization. The following is a list you may address your complaints to.

I would like to stress that the facility shut down the Lan System to install these visits. The Lan System gave prisoners individual access to law cases for review and research. This access helped us fight lawsuits and challenge our criminal cases. Now we have to go through the facility's law library to do so, which slows down our work by two to three days. This is a major blow for us.

Protest calls, letters, or faxes can be sent to

• Commissioner J. David Donahue, IGC South, 302 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204-2738, (317) 232-5711, fax (317) 232-6798, www.in.gov/indcorrection
• Governor Mitch Daniels, Office of the Governor, State House, Room 206, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204-2738, (317) 232-4567, fax 232-3443
• Superintendent Alan Finnan, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

I can speak truth to power, but I wanted to share with you the voices of other prisoners who are also being affected by this. I was forced to tell my family not to come visit me in hopes of sparing them any humiliation and dehumanization. Please join us in exposing this new visiting procedure. May God bless and keep you.

Write to Bro. Khalfani Malik Khaldun, 874304, PO Box 1111, B-Unit SCU, Carlisle, IN 57838. This deplorable visiting system is being reported at other prisons as well. Check with your loved ones behind enemy lines. All governors, state legislators and prison administrators should know that installing this system will meet with vigorous protest.

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