Prisoner of Conscience

...Food is "chow...

...When we entered the courtroom after committing acts of conscience, we expected fairness and justice...

...Human beings who have been officially designated as "criminals" are subjected to a concentration of abuse, disregard for health and safety, and general mistreatment that can hardly be imagined by those who have not experienced it...

...Even after repeated showers, day after day, month after month, the invasion into one's life by the prison staff and fellow inmates produces a similar result...

...Everyone caught ringworm from the infested mattresses, and no one who entered the jail left without lice...

...The pilots are Bureau of Prisons employees, the attendants Federal marshals, and the passengers just criminals and very expendable...

...Every aspect of our lives is strictly regimented...

...If we were going to be shot, this was the moment...

...The environment evokes childhood—a childhood filled with mental and physical violence...

...We are never called women...

...They didn't know us and we didn't know them, so we all felt vulnerable and unsafe...

...Having men in control also reinforces the inability of women to say "No...

...Imagine having your wrists handcuffed to your waist in front, entering a cubicle as small as the restroom of an airplane, and managing to undress enough to relieve yourself...

...To make a fifteen-minute call—the maximum time allotted per person per day—we must sign up the previous evening, standing in line for an hour or so...

...But instead of using violence against us, the officer in charge ordered a young soldier to pass his weapon to someone else, come into the enclosure, and see what he could do about getting us out...

...when the plane was on the ground, the marshals and pilots deserted the aircraft and locked the doors, leaving all of the prisoners aboard...

...Only the persistent efforts of concerned human beings will bring about any kind of social change...

...The transport of prisoners from one place to another is an exercise in terror and humiliation...

...It is overcrowded, and has too few facilities for the population it houses...

...His face registered amazement...

...Individuals are shackled and chained by the ankles, wrists, and waist, and spend all day sitting on an aircraft as it makes its frequent stops...

...young soldiers, themselves frightened and worried...

...We are treated as juveniles who have no useful role models and who get to see no examples of humane behavior...

...I suspect that if I were to become as ruthless, heartless, and self-centered as my jailers seem to be, I'd fit into this capitalist system just fine...

...Each of us knew the probable consequence of our actions...

...We live and learn behind these walls...

...At Lexington alone, profits from UNICOR average about $13 million a year...

...For the occasion, portraits of Martin Luther King Jr...

...When the mayor of Lexington and other VIPs came to the prison recently to attend a special program for Black History Week, the lunch schedule was changed for the day so that the overcrowding in the dining rooms would be less apparent...

...I was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and thus began the agony of being property of the United States Government in the custody of its Bureau of Prisons...

...Besides, the Air Force had the guns...

...All of these incidents occurred within weeks of one another...

...Through it all, other activists and I manage to maintain joy and contentment in our lives...

...The worst part of the beatings was that we women were locked in a room down the hall and were helpless to do anything to stop it...

...Repression and control are exerted beyond any reasonable limits...

...The young man was coming in unarmed...

...If we don't keep going to jail and prison as an extension of our work, who will be left to take up the cause of the people imprisoned in these slave-labor factories...

...The aircraft are in terrible condition...

...What am I supposed to learn from the violence I witness and experience in prison...

...The hallways outside our rooms are "alleys...

...See Page 22...

...Let me take you behind the walls of the Federal Correctional Institution at Lexington, Kentucky...

...For two months before I was sentenced, I was at the Cass County jail south of Kansas City, Missouri, which is used by Federal marshals to hold prisoners pending release or reassignment...

...We carried no weapons, harbored no hatred...

...Concealment and cover-up are standard features of prison life...

...The predetermined number of months, years, and sometimes decades must be spent behind bars...

...One woman told me that for her the worst part of being in prison was never being able to feel clean...

...If a prisoner experiences the death of a family member, for example, she is generally allowed to go home for the funeral, but she must pay not only her own way but the airfare and motel or hotel costs for one or more Federal marshals to accompany her...

...Most air lifts are filled to capacity...

...Helen Woodson, in prison for antinuclear activities, sums it up when she says, "How much time is too much to give for the lives of my children...

...No food is served, no water is provided, no assistance is offered in going to the toilet...

...This was the jail administrator's justification for having three men beat one young, defenseless inmate...

...She wrote this article while imprisoned in the Women's Correctional Facility at Lexington, Kentucky...

...We expected that all the evidence would be weighed...

...Again we politely refused...

...Language is a powerful weapon that is consistently used against us...

...This is an incredibly isolating experience...

...I closed my eyes, almost wishing I had thought to bring a black bag to put over my head for the execution...

...We were not allowed to speak of home-lessness, poverty, unemployment, and the billion dollars our Government squanders every day on the military...

...It's important to bear witness against the prison system's lies of "rehabilitation" and "correction" just as we must bear witness against the legal system's lies of "justice" and "law" and the military system's lies of "deterrence" and "security...

...Still, we were surprised at the severity of our sentences...

...We talked and expressed our feelings...

...In two months here I've seen no efforts aimed at rehabilitation, but many designed to exact retribution and revenge...

...What women need more than anything is to gain more control of their lives, not lose what little control they have...

...On a flight from San Diego to Oklahoma, a plane lost its hydraulic system, leaving the pilots uncertain that the landing gear would descend...

...and Harriet Tubman were pasted on the walls, along with quotations about freedom, power, and social change...

...The conditions in this prison are atrocious...

...His dark glasses looked menacing as he screamed at us to get off of the resource now...

...Now imagine being pregnant, as some women prisoners are...

...Those who receive little or no financial support from the outside are compelled to work for UNICOR, the U.S...

...Yes," was the reply, and the resister and captor left together...

...All we could do was listen to the cries and screams of prisoners begging the staff not to hit them again...

...There is no such thing as, "I've learned my lesson, you're safe from me, and I can go home now...

...What makes prison life especially odious is the degree of violence directed at prisoners, which often exceeds the violence they may have inflicted on themselves or on others...

...The question and answer were repeated, and so were the departures, until the silo enclosure was empty again and ready to resume threatening the world...

...The language in common use here is degrading and demeaning...

...The judge said the harsh terms of imprisonment were intended to deter us from engaging again in such conduct—but, of course, it doesn't work that way...

...the chairs were recently removed because they scratched the floors...

...One of the most destructive forms of control is our limited ability to communicate with people outside, whether in writing or by telephone...

...No drinking water was available, and when one woman asked for a drink, the woman on duty responded, "What do you think the toilet is for...

...There was no fresh air, no exercise, and terrible food...

...After one beating, we were reprimanded for getting word to the victim's family, and our telephone was removed for a time...

...To the Bureau of Prisons, the welfare of the floors is more important than the welfare of the inmates...

...It has twelve toilets and showers for seventy women, six washers and driers, Venetian blinds on the windows, no crowding, and no lines...

...they are supposed to be handed out free...

...It's understandable that women feel constantly abused and filthy...

...There are four washing machines and three driers for all 300 women...

...We sang in the blistering heat of that summer day...

...A prisoner who could not possibly repeat the offense for which she is serving time, or who has managed to change and grow while in prison, is still compelled to complete her sentence...

...No newspapers are available in the library...

...The guns would be carried by very Bonnie Urfer, a former member of The Progressive's business staff, works for Nuke-watch in Madison, Wisconsin...

...At my place of employment, I was told I could not talk or write about the toxic-waste dump buried somewhere on the prison grounds...

...There are wonderful women here who are willing and able to initiate programs and projects that would be helpful to prisoners...

...There is no privacy...

...But the institution will not allow any inmate to help herself or anyone else...

...We sat on the lid of a nuclear-missile silo in the hot early morning of August 16, 1988, interposing our bodies between the weapon below us and millions of innocent potential victims anywhere on Earth...

...A flight I was on was delayed four hours because a water hose broke, flooding the main cabin, and all electrical systems had to be checked for short-circuits...

...I know of a wealthy inmate who had no problem getting home for her father's funeral and a poor inmate who couldn't go to her brother's...

...The best the poor woman could do was make a fifteen-minute call on the day of her brother's burial—but since she was overcome with grief, weeping and wailing after she made the call, she was reprimanded for being unable to control herself...

...Only those of us who can't even mail a letter are affected by our helplessness...

...Inmates were not issued sanitary napkins, soap, toothpaste, or toothbrushes...

...The Bureau of Prisons breeds hatred, frustration, and hopelessness...

...Still, by all accounts I've heard from other prisoners, it wasn't the worst of county jails: That distinction belongs to the Wayne County jail in Detroit...

...The Bureau of Prisons has its own planes for prisoner airlifts...

...She has since been transferred to another Federal prison at Alderson, West Virginia...

...At this point, everyone was in a panic— they because of our resistance, we because of our resistance...

...I lived with eight to thirteen women in one small room that had no windows...

...UNICOR is a Defense Department contractor, so inmates must work not only to support their own oppression, but also to help build the Government's death machines...

...We cannot purchase envelopes within the prison...

...Judges, prosecutors, all those who take part in the process, believe they are obliged to uphold the laws of this land, right or wrong...

...prison industry, where wages start at twenty-two cents an hour and can eventually reach $1.20 for prisoners serving long sentences...

...As she spoke, I realized she was talking about the same phenomenon that is experienced by many women who have been raped—the feeling of always being dirty...

...Who determines what method of "correction" or "rehabilitation" will be meted out...

...We get no experience in assertiveness, and if someone is assertive here, it only means additional punishment...

...Most people are here for drug-related crimes—selling, using, or committing felonies to obtain money for drugs...

...Though the resistance itself was a contest of wills, the legal process that followed was much more violent and confrontational...

...We looked at the roses, the pictures of children, the crucifix, the other mementos we had spread out before us as we waited for the tanks and the M-16s to arrive...

...When we heard those orders, we knew we were safe...

...This was one of three nonviolent actions in which I took part last summer-actions that led to my present imprisonment...

...My resistance continues...

...A physician is on board, passing out Tylenol tablets—but no water to take them with...

...Prison is an extension and accumulation of all the wrongs of our society and culture...

...Inmates earn an average of eleven cents an hour by working at prison jobs...

...The staff doesn't care, the administration doesn't care...

...Like the outside society, the prison is run on class lines...

...Instead of being given an opportunity to talk about these things, we had to sit in a courtroom and listen to a judge lecture us about our lawlessness, our lack of remorse for our criminal conduct, and our stupidity in opposing the policies of our Government...

...Seeing the injustice of the courts—the lack of concern for life, liberty, and the environment—just makes us more determined to carry on as we have...

...That isn't what happened, and unless we keep trying, it will never happen...

...The news we get comes from papers donated by prisoners—papers already days old when they arrive...

...There, I was told, someone stayed up every night doing "rat patrol...

...Each of the Bureau of Prisons aircraft holds about 120 passengers...

...As a result, the recidivism rate surpasses 70 per cent...

...The expense can easily run to $2,000...

...It wasn't long before the first troops arrived...

...Being reprimanded is "getting a shot...

...In the housing unit, we have no desks, or even chairs to sit on...

...he wasn't accustomed to being disobeyed...

...Twice during my stay in the Cass County jail, I heard police and Sheriffs Department employees beat male prisoners...

...Ours was a symbolic statement for peace and disarmament...

...Therefore, none of us was permitted to address a jury of our peers about the weapons we opposed, our reasons for opposing them, their destructive capability, the suffering and death they cause each day even in time of "peace" let alone what they would do if used in time of war...

...We were all convicted...

...My housing unit has two toilets and two showers for every fifty women inmates...

...There is no space where one can get away from the constant noise and activity of 1,300 women living together in a small, crowded complex...

...If the line is busy or no one is home when we place the call, all we can do is stand in line again and hope for better luck the next day...

...In the months I've been here, envelopes have been available once...

...An officer stepped up to the gate we had opened to gain entrance and shouted to us to come out at once...

...We expected that our point of view, as well as the Government's, would be heard by a jury of our peers...

...we're addressed as "girl," "lady," or "baby...

...I was warned not to discuss the asbestos in the buildings—an issue that has been dragging through the courts for ten years now...

...Another officer, much more belligerent, entered the enclosure...

...Very politely, we refused...

...We were told that the unarmed inmate had attacked a guard and, besides, the victim belonged to a cult and drank human blood...

...No one deserves the kind of treatment dealt out in our prisons, just as no one deserves to live with the threat of nuclear war...

...We were inside the fenced missile site, surrounded by the Air Force outside...

...The housing unit I live in has 300 women and two telephones...

...The marshals do not issue sanitary napkins, and the seats are stained with the blood of woman after woman, flight after flight...

...they made an emergency landing and were met by fire and rescue equipment...

...Most of the security personnel are men who have the right to enter our rooms at any time, day or night, check the toilet areas and shower stalls, and search prisoners...

...The poor are punished for being poor, just as they are out there...

...We couldn't mention international laws, though these are laws of our land, too—laws that prohibit planning and preparing for the death of innocent civilians...

...One woman told me her flight had to make an emergency landing because fuel was leaking and a fire had started in one engine...

...But this prison has its own Potemkin Village— a housing unit that is displayed to visitors so they can see for themselves how well we are treated...

...He was nervous and sweaty as he approached us, but gently and ever so slowly he walked up to the first of us and simply asked, "Will you come with me...