diff -r 325aec842e3e Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py
--- a/Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py	Wed Feb 25 10:12:26 2015 -0500
+++ b/Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py	Fri Feb 27 23:25:34 2015 -0600
@@ -44,10 +44,10 @@
 
 from Queue import Empty, Full
 import _multiprocessing
-from multiprocessing import Pipe
-from multiprocessing.synchronize import Lock, BoundedSemaphore, Semaphore, Condition
-from multiprocessing.util import debug, info, Finalize, register_after_fork
-from multiprocessing.forking import assert_spawning
+from . import Pipe
+from .synchronize import Lock, BoundedSemaphore, Semaphore, Condition
+from .util import debug, info, Finalize, register_after_fork, is_exiting
+from .forking import assert_spawning
 
 #
 # Queue type using a pipe, buffer and thread
@@ -229,8 +229,6 @@
     @staticmethod
     def _feed(buffer, notempty, send, writelock, close):
         debug('starting thread to feed data to pipe')
-        from .util import is_exiting
-
         nacquire = notempty.acquire
         nrelease = notempty.release
         nwait = notempty.wait
diff -r 325aec842e3e Lib/test/test_multiprocessing.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_multiprocessing.py	Wed Feb 25 10:12:26 2015 -0500
+++ b/Lib/test/test_multiprocessing.py	Fri Feb 27 23:25:34 2015 -0600
@@ -620,6 +620,33 @@
         for p in workers:
             p.join()
 
+    def test_no_import_lock_contention(self):
+        import textwrap
+
+        module_name = 'imported_by_an_imported_module'
+        filename = module_name + ".py"
+        script = """
+            import multiprocessing
+
+            q = multiprocessing.Queue()
+            q.put('knock knock')
+            q.get(timeout=3)
+            q.close()
+        """
+        with open(filename, 'w') as f:
+            f.write(textwrap.dedent(script))
+        self.addCleanup(test_support.unlink, filename)
+
+        try:
+            sys.path.append(os.getcwd())
+            try:
+                __import__(module_name)
+            except Queue.Empty:
+                self.fail("Probable regression on import lock contention;"
+                          " see Issue 22853")
+        finally:
+            self.assertEqual(sys.path.pop(), os.getcwd())
+
 #
 #
 #