To:  Jerry Brown, Governor
of the State of California

Fr:  Lee Wood, Committee
to Abolish Prison slavery (CAPS)

Re:  Prisoner
Demands to Abolish Torture at Pelican Bay SHU  (1)

 Governor Brown,

                In
1849 California was admitted into the Union as a Free State with the following State
Constitutional Amendment:

     Article 1,
Section 18 (1849)

                “Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, UNLESS FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES,

                shall ever be tolerated in this
State.”

                This
Amendment successfully halted the expansion of African ‘chattel slave
territory’ to California by the Southern Slavocracy,  it certified California as a FREE STATE; and
it provided FOR BOTH ‘Slavery’ and Involuntary Servitude…FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES…’

                In
1865 the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution was ratified
and certified:

 Thirteenth
Amendment:

                Sec.
1.  “Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, EXCEPT AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME

                                WHEREOF
THE PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN DULY CONVICTED, shall exist within the

                                United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.”

                Sec.
2.    Congress
shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation.

                Between
1973 /1975, a California prisoner study collective
successfully struggled/lobbied via inside/outside community members to have California’s
then 124 year slavery proviso abolished and replaced with:

     Article 1,
Section 6 (1974/75)   

                “Slavery is prohibited. 

                 Involuntary Servitude is prohibited EXCEPT TO
PUNISH CRIME. (Emphasis) (2)

Thirty –six years (36) ago, as the then new Governor of
California, YOU welcomed the placement of the  new 1975 (Abolitionist) Article 1, Section 6 into
the California State Constitution.    This change commands that “…slavery…for the
punishment of crimes” “is prohibited”.

                 Today, 36 years after slavery was declared
Unconstitutional, in an overwhelming California citizen vote, it not only
continues to exist, but negative material slave conditions have rapidly expanded.     Since
1975, California guard unions (and other related businesses), under the cover
and protection of this Article, have massively expanded from approximately:  

                                                         30,000+ prisoners (@ approximately $9,143
per year each) to approximately  

                                                       135,000 prisoners today (@ between
$45,000 to $85,000 per year each)  

- -  more
prisoners, more taxes, more money per prisoner, more prison slave territory
expansion, more corrupt cumulative Slavocracy profits  -  All
at the cost of a morally dysfunctional State.

                      The
practice of slavery “for the punishment of crimes” continues after 36 years of not
returning citizenship, labor, human, 
economic, civil, and day to day material rights to prisoners and their
family members, including not being Tortured anywhere within California, under
any circumstances whatsoever, NOT EVEN AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME.

                The
purpose of this State Constitutional Amendment change was NOT to ‘hide’ the
punishment proviso of prisoner SLAVERY by deleting its ‘presence’ from the State
Constitution.   However, that is what happened! (3)   

                The
1975 Amendment should have advanced prisoners’ rights immediately after  its passage, not prostituted them in the
negative.    Why has the spirit and ‘will’ of the people
been so grotesquely violated?  

                Thirty-six
(36) years of Unconstitutional, cumulative negative slave conditions have been inflicted
against both inside and outside communities –  by the California Government, and against the
wishes of California’s voting citizens. 
It is, of course, shameful that this corruption has occurred, and
continues at this very minute. 
California citizens voted to provide more rights than existed on the State
level, not less, but more! 

                Great
Reparations are urgently needed to rectify the massive past and present cumulative
negatives with what should have been massive positives.  What should have been an ‘increase’ in the
return of rights to California prisoners, decayed into a well coordinated ‘decrease’
of citizenship, human, labor, economic, civil, and daily material rights with
the corresponding increase of State Appropriations for this California
Department of Corruptions.

                These
rights should have been advanced beyond the 3/5ths designation of a slave – to a
minimum of 5/5ths of a full CITIZEN/HUMAN BEING.  

                These
increased negative conditions (of slavery to punish crime) must be halted
immediately; and, all rights restored without further delay, including ALL Citizenship,
Labor, Human, Economic, and Civil rights: 
  Abolition of
prisoner over-crowding, Abolition of Draconian torture programs  (as those practiced in Pelican Bay SHU),  freedom from cruel and unusual punishments,
freedoms of speech, due process, equal protections in Medical, Food, Clothing,
Shelter, Health, Education, abolition of all punitive material conditions, etc.  (4)  Death
Penalty Abolition, Right to Vote, Right to Union Scale Wages for labor, Release
of Political Prisoners, et al.   

                 In conclusion, I would like to request a
meeting with you, with Pelican Bay SHU prisoners, their legal representatives
and family members to discuss these matters in greater detail.    Thank
you for your consideration.

 Towards Abolition
of All Slavery,

Lee Wood

NOTES:

1.  “At present,
the Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit (SHU) Hunger Strike has temporarily
halted with negotiations between prisoners, their legal representatives, and
CDCr. 
                “The demands of the
strikers seem relatively tame, which gives us some insight into the level of
oppression.  The five core demands are:

                1.  Individual instead of group responsibility
for institutional infractions.

                2.  Abolition of the Gang Debriefing Policy,
which endangers both those who debrief as well as family                                                     members on the outside;

                3.  An end to long term solitary confinement;

                4.  Adequate food, and

                5.  Constructive programs like art, phone
privileges, and the like.

                                A
sub demand (under Constructive Programs section) is adequate, natural sunlight.

                                SUNLIGHT!”
(copyright by Mumia Abu Jamal, 2011)

2.   Article 1,
Section 6 wording is actually the third alternative, with statutes. 

                The
First proposal was:  “Neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude shall ever be tolerated in this state.”

                Second:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, NOT EVEN AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME,

                                 shall ever be tolerated in this state.”

                Third:  “Slavery is prohibited.  Involuntary Servitude is prohibited EXCEPT TO
PUNISH CRIME.”

     A few self
serving Statutes were put in place, while the vast majority that would have
advanced from 3/5ths to 5/5ths of a Human Being Real Person – these, were
ignored.

3.  http://books.google.com/books?id=zbTU7QxA7qoC&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=Prison+Slavery+book&source=bl&ots=uIBzy_Y9B0&sig=cu9TY-WSA0uXlw3k253LxxHyOgA&hl=en&ei=xmU4TobNIcblsQKXhOgu&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CF0Q6AEwBw#v=snippet&q=Ordinance%20of%201787%20&f=false

(4)  Death Penalty
Abolition (0/5ths), Right to Vote, Right to Union Scale Wages for labor, Release
of All Political Prisoners, et al.