(A)narchist Prisoner Sean Swain Blamed/Punished for S@botage Campaign
In September 2012, copies of a “resistance manual” and flyers promoting “a joyous class war” and sabotage within the prison appeared within the Ohio Mansfield Correctional Institution (ManCI). According to a conduct report filed against alleged leaders, these materials “instruct inmates to bring the prison system to the brink” by engaging in a wide range of activities. The flyers were distributed by a group calling themselves the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, a reference to a 1990′s science fiction film.
The flyers promote three types of activities. First, wasting resources: “run electrical appliance and flush sink water all day” and “demand all food, clothes and medical/dental you are entitled to”. Second, damaging prison property: “break machines in the kitchen and OPI… pour salt water in staff computers… cut phone and computer lines… put gum, paperclips, and staples in door locks”. Third, broader organizing calls: “gang members to unite against our common enemy” and “steal, sabotage, organize, strike, resist”.
On September 19, three inmates were searched as suspected leaders of the Army of the 12 Monkeys. Searching Leslie Dillion and James Dzelajiljia’s cells allegedly uncovered original documents used to make copies and drafts of further writings. The prison authorities also took a copy of “Errico Malatesta, His Life & Ideas” into evidence from Dzelajiljia’s cell. In Sean Swain’s cell, they did not find anything related to the 12 Monkeys. Instead, they took a copy of a recent article Swain wrote opposing the ODRC’s privatization of inmate accounts into evidence. Swain had sent the article to outside supporters for posting on SeanSwain.org. This essay does not mention prison sabotage or the “army of the twelve monkeys” but was taken into evidence because, according to the conduct report, it has “wording and ideologies that matched the 12 Monkey resistance movement”. Swain also has a tattoo inspired by the science fiction movie that inspired the logo for the Army of the 12 Monkeys.
The ‘m@levolent’ prisoner guerrilla manual which generated so much heat for Sean Swain, a non-violent Ohio prisoner for the past 23 years, can be downloaded by clicking HERE.
While held in segregation under investigation, the prison administrators opened the prisoners’ outgoing mail to seek further evidence. They allegedly found Dillion and Dzelajiljia sending letters written under pseudonyms of the 12 Monkeys, but no such letters by Sean Swain. Instead they mis-characterized an intercepted article for posting that merely described the situation and activities of the Army of the 12 Monkeys as a confession.
Dillion and Dzelajiljia are still awaiting a rules infraction board hearing, but Sean Swain has been found guilty. Swain was not allowed to question the investigator at the hearing. He denies having any connection or ideological affinity with the Army of the 12 Monkeys. He describes himself as an anarchist and a “neolithic indiginist” and the 12 Monkeys as a Maoist organization, who never use the word “anarchy”. Swain insists he has actually been targeted because of his opposition to JPay. In the article Swain described how the ODRC released private information of all prisoner visitors, and created additional fees when they hired JPay to administer inmate funds accounts. He characterizes this deal as a “get-rich scheme” to benefit ODRC Director Gary Mohr’s “Florida golf buddies”.
From September 19th – 21st Sean Swain was held in a suicide cell, with no pen, heat, shower, toothbrush or bed. From the 25th until the present he has been in administrative control while under investigation. His incoming mail has been delayed, monitored and withheld. His, Dillon and Dzelajiljia’s outgoing mail has been opened and tampered with. They have been denied access to basic commissary, reading and writing materials, and other necessities they are entitled to while in segregation. During Swain, Dillon and Dzelajiljia’s time in segregation, 12 Monkeys activities continued among the general population.
The Rules Infraction Board’s conduct report admits that they have no evidence of Swain participating in, promoting, or writing for the Army of the 12 Monkeys. They have found him guilty based exclusively on an alleged “ideological affinity”. They have found him guilty of being a neolithic indiginist, a religious belief system that has been approved by the ODRC who granted Swain a religious practice exemption. Swain is appealing the decision on the basis that it does not meet the Rules Infraction Board’s very low “some evidence” standard. He is looking for a new lawyer, as the counsel he had hired only met with him once and offered no real assistance during the investigation. Descriptions of this experience in Swain’s own words can be found online at SeanSwain.org.
12 Monkeys is a 1995 science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, inspired by Chris Marker‘s 1962 short film La Jetée, and starringBruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt, with Christopher Plummer and David Morse in supporting roles.
PLOT
In the beginning of the film, Cole is brought into the interrogation room and told to sit in a chair attached to a vertical rail on the wall. A sphere supported by a metal armature is suspended directly in front of him, probing for weaknesses as the inquisitors interrogate him.
James Cole (Willis) is a convicted criminal living in a grim post-apocalyptic future. In 1996–97, the Earth’s surface was contaminated by a virus so deadly it forced the surviving population to live underground. At some point in the years that followed, scientists have engineered an imprecise form of time travel. To earn a pardon, Cole allows scientists to send him on dangerous missions to the past to collect information on the virus, thought to be released by a terrorist organization known as the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. If possible, he is to obtain a pure sample of the original virus so a cure can be made. Cole is troubled with recurring dreams involving a chase and a shooting in an airport.
On Cole’s first trip, he arrives in Baltimore in 1990, not 1996 as planned. He is arrested and hospitalized in a mental institution on the diagnosis of Dr. Kathryn Railly (Stowe). There, he encounters Jeffrey Goines (Pitt), a fellow mental patient with fanatical animal rightsand anti-consumerist leanings. Cole tries unsuccessfully to leave a voicemail on a number monitored by the scientists in the future. After a failed escape attempt, Cole is restrained and locked in a cell, but then disappears, returning to the future. Back in his own time, Cole is interviewed by the scientists, who play a distorted voice mail message which gives the location of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys and states that they are responsible for the virus. He is also shown photos of numerous people suspected of being involved with the virus, including Goines. The scientists then send him back to 1996.
Cole kidnaps Railly and sets out in search of Goines, learning that he is the founder of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. When confronted, however, Goines denies any involvement with the virus and suggests that wiping out humanity was Cole’s idea, originally broached at the asylum in 1990. Cole vanishes again as the police approach. After Cole disappears, Railly begins to doubt her diagnosis of Cole when she finds evidence that he is telling the truth, including a photograph from World War I in which Cole appears. Cole, on the other hand, convinces himself that his future experiences are hallucinations, and persuades the scientists to send him back again. Railly attempts to settle the question of Cole’s sanity by leaving a voice mail on the number he provided, creating the message the scientists played prior to his second mission. They both now realize that the coming plague is real, and make plans to enjoy the time they have left.
On their way to the airport, they learn that the Army of the Twelve Monkeys is a red herring; all the Army has done is delay traffic by releasing all the animals in the zoo. At the airport, Cole leaves a last message telling the scientists they are on the wrong track following the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, and that he will not return. He is soon confronted by Jose (Jon Seda), an acquaintance from his own time, who gives Cole a handgun and instructions to complete his mission. At the same time, Railly spots the true culprit behind the virus: Dr. Peters (David Morse), an assistant at the virology lab run by Goines’s father. Peters is about to embark on a tour of several cities around the world, which matches the sequence (memorized by Cole) of viral outbreaks. After forcing his way through the security checkpoint in pursuit of Peters, Cole is fatally shot by police. As Cole dies in Railly’s arms, she makes eye contact with a small boy: the young James Cole witnessing the scene of his own death, which will replay in his dreams for years to come. Dr. Peters, aboard the plane with the virus, sits down next to Jones (Florence), one of the lead scientists from the future.
