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Then we got into the heavy things—the reasons for my refusal to work, et cetera. I was ready for them. But when I gave my explanation, they replied that I wanted to pick and choose the rules I would obey and that this was a very arbitrary attitude. I responded by expressing a total lack of faith in…

I was such a political prisoner, but this did not discourage me during my twenty-two months in the Penal Colony; I knew that a political consciousness was growing among people both in and out of prison. I could see it when I talked with other inmates at mealtimes; we got into heavy raps about the s…

There is a process of self-enlightenment that operates among inmates, a process that moves far beyond the level desired by the authorities. A “rehabilitated” prisoner may see the “incorrect” nature of his past actions. He may even see that the assault or robbery, or whatever, was a “mistake.” But h…

After my meeting with the warden I was assigned to a counselor, who proposed that I go through a “rehabilitation program” to prepare me to return to society. I felt no need to be rehabilitated; my only crime was to speak in defense of the people. But the counselor went on describing the program. As…

Although called a Men’s Colony by the authorities, San Luis Obispo inmates know it as the California Penal Colony, which sums up what it is all about—a penal institution and a colonized situation. The state believes in the power of euphemism, that by putting a pleasant name on a concentration camp …