Author: admin

Big shout out to all activists, groups, and organizations working toward prison abolition or who are engaged in activities to improve the current state of our criminal justice system. Efforts from groups like Young Abolitionist, Lipstick, “Vivian” from U-Mass Dartmouth, Greater Tabernacle Church, CURE, Black & Pink, and the many other noble entities is what makes up the life blood of our Emancipation Initiative and infuses us prisoners with a sense of hope and self-worth. Thank you!

Listen people, the power of inclusion goes a long way and prisoners are totally excluded from our American democracy. American prison facilities function as unregulated invisible cities that are unfit for human habitation. Occupants sanctioned to serve time in such places are entirely excluded from environmental regulations designed to protect the health and welfare of minority and low-income populations. Prisoners are alienated from provisions like the Clinton administration’s Executive Order 12898 (E.O. 12898) that was created specifically to address environmental issues that disadvantaged communities face. Applying the wisdom that prisoners temporarily surrender their rights as citizens as a result of their crime, arrest, trial, and conviction is not only flawed but inconsistent with our American democracy. Prisoners still remain citizens of the United States and are entitled to equal protection and safety rendered to all citizens afforded by our Constitutional system of government (14th Amendment). Persons relegated to prison facilities are disproportionately affected by environmental harms and are condemned to state imposed cruel and unusual treatment.

State and federal regulators fail to regulate environmental hazards faced by persons held in our nation’s correctional facilitates. The most effective way to remedy these ills is by restoring prisoners’ voting rights because the pains will only persist as long as we lack political power or influence to address the environmental inequities that we suffer from. There is no legitimate reason to not allow prisoners to vote or to keep us from participating in local, state, and federal elections.

Prison is a place where regardless of who you are, all persons subject to its jurisdiction relinquish the better part of their liberties as U.S. citizens. This relinquishment, in a sense, not so much only condemns the residents that transition in and out of these facilities, but more so condemns the prison facility in itself to a permanent state of impotence. Immediately following the opening of a prison facility, its health and living sustainability will progressively diminish because of the indifference to those the building was built to house. Slightly different form the “Put It In Blacks Backyard (PIBBY)” concerns voiced by low-income and minority communities regarding “locally undesirable land uses (LULUs),” prison facilities are the undesirable land use with many of us black and minority men designated as the hazardous waste within them. Evidence shows that race and criminal status accounts for the indifference of prison officials towards the environmental health of a prison facility and its occupants—in part because of the overrepresentation of blacks and minorities in prison. Blacks and Hispanics “represent approximately 30 percent of the population [who]…comprise over half of those incarcerated,” (1) thus providing an explanation for the continued indifference by government officials and policymakers failure to enforce strict environmental regulations.

I was really happy to learn about the research conducted by the noble group designated the Prison Ecology Project (PEP) which aims to address and expose environmental damage from under-regulated prisons and environmental justice concerns regarding prisoners. They do a great job at magnifying the scope of indifference by state and federal regulators. For the sake of highlighting the multiple effects of regulatory indifference, PEP cited that in one facility, administrators “falsified water pollution reports…reports covered up excess fecal coliform levels in the daily 350,000 gallon wastewater byproduct…,” (2) PEP also released research reports outlining chemical spills in South Carolina, regional jails of Virginia, Rikers Island jail in New York (being located on a toxic waste landfill site), Florida jail’s flooding which resulted in gas leaks killing two prisoners and injuring others, Colorado prisons being located in contaminated areas, arsenic in Texas and California water supplies within state prisons—and a laundry list of many other environmental iniquities throughout various DOC facilities in America. These inequities persist because of prisoners’ exclusion from the political process.

In addition, as a result of prisoners being excluded from the political process, prison facilities fall into a category of what social scientist Susan Cutter describes as social vulnerability, she says: “determinants [that make environments vulnerable] include demographic characteristics (race, ethnicity, income, etc.), resource access, political access, social capital, physical disability, infrastructure, housing stock…[and] other factors” (3). Prisoners have none of the above accesses, resources, or capital, resulting in such sordid and vulnerable environmental prison conditions. Miserable conditions of prison life have been lauded by former Massachusetts governor William F. Weld, who compared the maximum security prison “to the lowest circle of Dante’s Inferno [saying] that was the way he wanted it,” (4) not for getting this is the place where former NFL star Aaron Hernandez just took his own life. Other public officials bask in the excitement of prisoner disenfranchisement—as one New York State Senator, Dale Volker, stated he was “glad that the almost 9,000 people confined in his district [could] not vote because “they would never vote for me” (5) demonstrating his appreciation for prison exclusion.

Our Emancipation Initiative aims to empower the people to begin the process of compelling government to sanction universal prisoner suffrage. This would cause the ecological/environmental crises that DOC prison facilities suffer from to instantly improve as local, state, and federal regulators to become responsive to restoring dignity to convicted prisoners along with the prison facilities they’re held in. Voting rights would extend provisions such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. From May 23, 2016 through July 7, 2016 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drew up a “Draft EJ 2020 Action Agenda” that would provide: “[a] mission-critical program accountability through measurable goals that will: (1) ensure prompt, effective, and efficient complaint docket management; (2) enhance ECRCO’s external compliance program through proactive compliance reviews, strategic policy development, and engagement of critical EPA, federal and external partners and stakeholders (e.g., recipients and communities); and, (3) strengthen ECRCO’s workforce through strategic human capital planning, organizational development and technology, and training to promote a high-performing organization. (Draft EJ 2020 Action Agenda, Environmental Justice Strategic Plan.”)

Although this Action Agenda is tentative, prisoners would be included to be allowed access to the gains of such provisions which would permeate throughout prison facilities as prisoners began to use resources such as “Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)” tools to report environmental issues. Our families and loved ones could also begin organizing around the authority of Executive Order 12898 to begin closing down toxic prisons unfit for human habitation similar to the efforts of “ROC” which is a group formed from the mothers of incarcerated persons in California (Mothers Reclaiming Our Children). Our collective efforts are a tool within itself to combat environmental injustice along with addressing governmental indifference rooted in racism from conservative white and far right (and left) law makers.

Sorry people I hate to be longwinded, but I just want to touch on a few more things because environmental assaults within prisons is a real issue and I feel like those who oppose laws that would enforce strict regulation of environmental policies within prisons only do so because of politically motivated reasons. Most of them justify their positions on the basis of cost-benefit, utilitarian principles. Cost-benefit analysis holds that accrued cost of enforcing environmental regulations in prison will not benefit society—and if it would—the cost will outweigh the benefits. The idea is that “why should state government spend more tax payer money, aside from the basic housing expenses (food & clothing), to enforce costly regulations for an unworthy population”? This argument, with a skewed reasoning, caters to the interest of the greater good which would be to sustain the practices of regulatory indifferences. Although that route maybe, in real-dollar amount more cost-effective, the collateral effect of housing prisoners in environmentally unregulated prison facilities and denying them a voice (voting power) to speak out about the abject conditions they live in creates animus within the psyches of the incarcerated population which spreads throughout the 600,000 persons that are released from prison everyday into society from prisons and jails. Harsh treatment and exclusion serves only to boost recidivism rates throughout society causing collateral consequences primarily in poor and minority communities. This works to perpetuate a malicious cycle of exclusion and mass-incarceration.

Finally, recidivism rates will begin to decrease if we expand our democracy through enfranchising prisoners. Allowing prisoners to participate in the political process makes them stakeholders and gives prisoners incentive to steer clear from engaging in future criminal activity. It will also begin the process of our society addressing toxic and overcrowded prisons. Voting amplifies the local knowledge within prison facilities serving to improve conditions of confinement and quality of life to those subject to such conditions. Furthermore, prisoner suffrage would provide us with some freedom of thought to actually reflect on behaviors that led many men into this predicament as opposed to constantly worrying about conditions of confinement because incarcerated men & women could begin taking the necessary steps to address and correct need areas for improvement that will ultimately create a healthy prison environment conducive for rehabilitation. Healthier prison environments will eventually communicate into healthier communities amounting to an overall greater good.

People, let’s get behind our Emancipation Initiative to begin addressing these cruel and unusual death traps we call prisons! Much love and power to the people.

Your Champion,
Derrick Washington

(1) Carson, E. A. (2015). Prisoners in 2014 (NCJ 248955). Retrieved from Bureau of Justice Statistics website: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf

(2) Prison Ecology Project, https://nationinside.org/campaign/prison-ecology/facts/

(3) Cutter, S. L., Mitchell, J. T., & Scott, M. S. (2000). Revealing the vulnerability of people and places: a case study of Georgetown County, South Carolina. Annals of the association of American Geographers, 90(4), 713-737.

(4) Gilligan, J., & Lee, B. (2004). Beyond the Prison Paradigm: From Provoking Violence to Preventing It by Creating “Anti‐Prisons”(Residential Colleges and Therapeutic Communities). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1036(1), 300-324.

(5) Peter Wagner, “Temporary Populations Change the Political Face of New York,” Aug. 30, 2004, Prisoners of the Census,http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/…/temporary-populations/. Peter Wagner, “Locked Up, but Still Counted: How Prison Populations Distort Democracy,” Sept. 5, 2008, ibid., http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/news/2008/09/05/stillcounted/.

Life Without Parole or LWOP are very difficult words to process for those who are serving the sentence. Upon hearing them, initially, there is no processing for most—but only the shock of a sharp pain that follows the judge’s decree. This pain is similar to the feeling of receiving a blow to the mid-section—except that only a selected few manage to recover or get their wind back. The long ride from the county courthouse to state prison in the back of the “paddy-wagon” cuffed at the wrist and shackled and chained at the ankles feels like dying. Many men’s spirits are left at the courthouse still awaiting to be released, though their bodies are in transit to a living graveyard (state prison).

LWOP prisoners are given a sentence with no release date and ordered to exist in an enlarged coffin (prison institution) until they are no longer able to physically move about. They have no incentive to want to live or “behave” while alive and are deemed to be society’s lepers—as they remain excluded from society. The only way they’re able to rise above their situation is through their own determination to not give up their fight for freedom. The first step towards freedom for men in such conditions is through a mental liberation from the hell within their own minds, brought about by their post-conviction experiences. It’s not uncommon to find men hanging by a bed sheet from the ventilation grate within their cell—or slicing away at their arms with a canteen razor simply to garner a few hours of attention from prison staff. I couldn’t even begin to speak for the prospective pains suffered by the men on death row awaiting execution by injection or who are on the chopping block for death by electrocution. I can assert though, that for the person scheduled to remain in a space smaller than a one-room apartment bathroom and given food not fit for an animal but just precisely enough to keep an individual’s heart beating, in combination with the severely inhumane treatment by bigoted prison guards who release the hate they hide towards certain people and groups within society but have a free pass to openly release it against America’s “wretched of the earth” (the prisoner) is also, as Pope Francis called it, “A hidden death penalty.” This torment, is the common day to day life cycle of the average LWOP prisoner—total indifference, exclusion, loneliness, and slow death.

The thing is, many can understand the inhumanity inherent within the holistic sanction of a LWOP sentence. The common response is “hey, tough luck, they’re scumbags [murderers] and deserve what they have coming to them.” I hear that, and the logic is reasonable, but I would argue that the wisdom behind that logic is rooted in fixed assumptions primarily grounded in the notion that we have an airtight, fair, and equitable judicial system in which everyone sentenced to LWOP is guilty of the charge they’ve been convicted of. That couldn’t be any further from the truth. At E.I.’s previous planning event, “The Legal Institution of Slavery in America” at the Community Church of Boston on Boylston Street in Boston, two of our speakers were men convicted of murders and sentenced to LWOP. One man (Sean Ellis) served 22 years and was released following revelations that the evidence presented in his case was flawed, while the other (Victor Rosario) was released after serving 28 years after the discovery of evidence likely to prove his innocence. These are just two out of the 2006 men in Massachusetts DOC prisons who were serving life and LWOP prison sentences who happened to have a support system to help guide them to maintain the fight for their freedom. Oh, and coincidentally, as of today 4/11/2017, a good friend of mind who’ve been incarcerated 36 years who is currently in the same institution as myself (Fred Weichel), just overturned his murder conviction, which has been all over the local news. This is clear evidence that our assumption or idea that we have a credible and fair justice system is erroneous.

No doubt, there are guys in here who are 100% guilty and take full accountability for their crime they were convicted of. But, not surprisingly, some of these same men display through their actions that they would be more of an asset in their community rather than languishing in a prison cell until death. I believe we all agree that all lives are valuable and that there should be some degree of accountability for a loss of life—but after observing the unfolding of the infamous “Whitey Bulger” trial, and how the prosecution’s witnesses, Keven Weeks and Johnny Martorano, one who had admitted to 12 murders and the other who had an admitted 9 murders, both were given under 10 years to serve for a prison sentence in exchange for testimony against Whitey Bulger (a guy accused of 19 murders). This episode shows that justice is disproportionately administered, because there are many men here in Norfolk prison rotting in a prison cell who should have a chance to be reunited with their family just like Weeks and Martorano who were convicted of far more than those guys. No person is incorrigible and despite the wide variations of iniquities spanning across the range of convicted persons throughout the country and MA DOC, men must not be defined and perpetually punished by their worst act, especially if others who are able to afford better legal representations or opt to cooperate with the prosecution in exchange for a lesser consequence are able to evade the same level of accountability as a less fortunate individual

People, this is what our Emancipation Initiative is about, infusing our system with equitable justice and bringing about absolute inclusion for our people locked down and out of our democracy. Our key focus is ending Life Without Parole prison sentences and restoring voting rights here in Massachusetts as well as establishing universal prisoner suffrage throughout the country. Our strategy has been to host legislative planning events in each city and town throughout the state of Massachusetts to amass a state wide communal voice to usurp the attention of our state legislature and effect criminal justice policy. E.I. is designed as the people’s movement and anyone who is involved in positive social and criminal justice reform efforts is considered to be facilitating in the progress of OUR Emancipation Initiative. It is the collective NGO work and individual activism that enables us to break the chains of oppressive policy.

If you’re reading this, know that you are the lifeblood and heartbeat of [y]our Emancipation Initiative and we need to work collaboratively to share these slave narratives, solicit signatures for our change.org petition, spread the awareness of our Facebook page and strive to get as many participants as we possibly can. Also, make sure you all spread the word of our 29th April event “The Legal Institution of Slavery in America Worcester” at 700 Southbridge St. in Worcester, MA at the Gathering from 1:00-4:00 PM. Furthermore, continue to follow our Facebook page because we are in the process of transitioning to a website that’s currently in the works of being created, which would make it easier to navigate through our contents and locate activities (change.org petition, slave narratives, C.C.E., essays, etc.)

In the meantime, continue the fight and know that I love you all for your collective work and participatory efforts. The power is within us! Peace and Love

Your Champion,
Derrick Washingotn

By: Su’ganni Tiuza

I have been in prison for 12 years. Ten of the twelve years spent in various Massachusetts state prisons. In these years I have seen so many men die. Die, not from old age. Die, by suicide, hopelessness, and escaping pain. The faces of these men, are vividly rolling around in my mental footage. Compelling me to write a collage of horrific events. In hopes that the strong mobilize the weak, to abolish a system that will always do more harm than rehabilitation.

Shawn Noonan was a young white man, doing a significant amount of Prison time. The prison was Shirley Super Max. Located in Shirley, Massachusetts. A heavily segregated mad house, in which prisoners are warehoused. The “Max,” a place that is very successful in peddling depression, stress, and “self-medicate-to-cope.” A hellhole, filled with rage, misplaced combativeness, and idle time…

Shawn got heavy into self-medicating with the popular destructive drug of the day. His family had money and out of Love for him, sent him any amount of money he requested. He lived “prison rich”, blowing money on anything he wanted. Drugs overflowing in his pocket, flowing straight to his nose and the noses of the leeches that hung shamelessly on him. Shawn had a good heart and people used his good heart for the personal selfish gain of others.

Like any well, Shawns money well went very dry. His parents financially cut him off. Word got back to them that Shawn was using his requested funds on drugs. Well, Shawn owed a lot of money to a lot of people. He was in heavy debt and had a very serious drug habit. His train wreck was imminent. He wanted to still get high and those he owed, still wanted their money. His creditors didn’t give a damn about his financial woes. As one creditor forcefully put it to Shawn, ” I don’t give a damn if you have to suck 10 dicks to get my money, I want it by the end of this week…”

At this time, the Max was becoming very repressive. The dead energy was a vacuum, sucking the life out of the prisoners. Recreation was getting cut back. Programs were very scarce, and the programs available, it was easier for the devil to pass the pearly gates, than for a prisoner to get in them. The same old draconian conditions made the prisoners snap, due to them being wound up so tight. The effect on Shawn was fatal.

Spiraling into a deep depression, Shawn was alone, and his mental condition was evident. This cruel and very unusual place called prison was the devil conscious on Shawn’s left shoulder, encouraging and facilitating his demise. Drugs were the last coping mechanism that allowed him to deal with an extreme egregious house of death. When that last frontier was taken, he became a short ticking time bomb.

It was Shawn’s time to have recreation within his prison unit. His door and the approximately 40 other prisoners doors opened up. An eerie silence followed, as prisoners passed by and looked into Shawn’s open cell. In the usual loud and chaotic noise of the unit, it was easy to sense something went very wrong. The expression of the prisoners said, “Death has arrived.”

Shawn laid lifeless in his cell. He hanged himself on the seat of the desk. His body stretched out on the cold concrete floor. His face was the same color of his hair. Reddish brown. No more pain. No more suffering off the hands of the wicked. No more being slowly tortured by a conniving institution, with a detriment to public safety that the public is unaware of.

The list of the departed (by suicide) is vast. Like Shawn’s story, each fatal end, has a depressive story. That of an elite oppressive force, that has carte blanche to do what it wants, outside of the law. Even murder if the right circumstances presented itself. A system that does more harm than rehabilitation.

Then there are the men who have done all they could to kill themselves, but failed. They too have a depressive story, yet their ending is more misery, hopelessness, and torture. Their further punishment is being placed in a cell, with no clothing of any type nor anything else. Just a paper johnny (smock) over their naked body and a sheetless mattress, with a guard right outside their cell, observing their every movement.

I did 22 months in solitary confinement, from 2008 to February 26, 2010. Most of these months were in the Disciplinary Detention Unit (DDU), in Walpole state prison. DDU is a highly secure prison unit, for Massachusetts prisoners, that have been sentenced to serve long solitary confinement time. There are prisoners serving 6 months solitary confinement time in DDU. There are also people serving 30 years solitary confinement time in DDU. Brenden was a middle aged man, who was on the same tier with me in DDU. He received a 8 year DDU sentence. Did I mention how damaging DDU is to the human psyche? I’m no Dr.Phil, but I empirically know that not one person leaves DDU the same. Many leave deranged from the despicable and inhumane conditions.

Brenden, with deep desire, tried to kill himself. He successfully smuggled a razor into his cell. When the right time presented itself, he sliced his self repeatedly like you wouldn’t believe. When all was said and done, he was found (by a guard) in his own pool of blood. Everybody on the tier, including myself, thought he was dead. It wasn’t until credible word reached us and he came back to the tier, that we found out he was still alive.

Suicide in prison has no demographic. Old, Young, Black, White, Lifer, Non-Lifer, Muscles, No Muscles, etc. Prison on paper and on its DOC websites seems like “Correction” and “Rehabilitation.” Smoke and Mirrors. Yet when the smoke clears and the mirrors crack, there lies a torture chamber.

At first, for prison etiquette purposes, I chose to not use actual names of the two men in my slave narrative. Yet after a lot of thought, I felt it best to publish the actual names. The stories are real and anyone in tune with suicide in Massachusetts prisons knows that there is a grave suicide issue. Not only are prisoners committing suicide, but unfortunately many guards in Massachusetts have committed suicide as well. The guards too are affected by this oppressive and depressive system…People are dying here. Forget about the fact that these people are convicts and guards. They’re human beings and they’re dying and all the root causes are traced back to this cruel and very unusual place called prison. This is a true injustice for the departed’s family and for society. I deeply encourage you to do all that’s in your power to mobilize effectively, with the goal of abolishing this prison industrial complex. Something is very wrong here and it must be stopped today…

My Slave Narrative by Timothy J. Muise, Prisoner Rights Activist

Did you ever wish you were blind? How about deaf? Did the thought ever cross your mind that your senses might be out of control? On overload as they say? The repressive and counter-productive madness of the modern gulag has made me feel that way and I am almost ashamed to admit it.

I make no excuses for my incarceration. I lost my way in life and committed crimes. Punishment is a word that has many facets, but not as many as hopelessness; my world today is one of massive hopelessness. Do you want to ensure that a man or woman never rises above their past? If you do, then just be certain to permeate their world with deep hopelessness. This is what the jobs program that is the prison does.

My life was transformed by the teachings of strong men who were able to rise above the fray; to escape the abuse and nonsense of the modern gulag. The work to expose the abuses of the system tasted like hope in my mouth and my heart filled with the blood of the battle for real change. I was no longer a slave to the hopelessness, I was free in my activist mind to develop plans and concepts that may work to like free others. I began to live again.

The voice of the informed and educated prisoner is what has been missing from the push for commonsense criminal justice reform for far too long. The men and women behind the walls and fences know what works, and equally importantly what does not work. We see the application of new ideas with a vision of clarity. A viewpoint not offered from the State House or conference table. A battlefield looks different from a bleeding soul.
When asked today who I am I gladly report that I am a prisoner rights activist. The Activist can take on many roles; I work with Constitutional scholars, organizers, promoters, and thinkers. I like to view myself as an agitator: one who gets the enemy – the jailer – to show their true colors. My success has been measured by some and I am pleased with their reports.

Race means nothing to me, neither does geographic loyalty. If you bleed “oppression” you are a brother/sister. If you understand the need for forgiveness and the ability of the spirit to bring personal change then you are a kindred soul. We can stand shoulder to shoulder in this war against hypocrisy and abuse. We can enjoy victories in battles against tyranny and treason; those are what the failures of our “governments” really are. We are not slaves and will never tolerate such a moniker. We are restored beings with dignity and value. We are the voice of the new century. We are hope.

Timothy J. Muise is a prisoner rights activist, founder of CURE-ARM, member of the Emancipation Initiative’s Steering Committee, and operates an activism blog at:
betweenthebars.org/blogs/101/

He can be reached at:
Timothy J. Muise, W66927
MCI Norfolk
PO Box 43
Norfolk, MA
02056-0043
tim.muise.63@gmail.com

Ours is a disposable society. Commercialism and materialism have seen to it that in this day and age nothing is considered durable or salvageable. Is your toaster broken? Throw it out and get a new one. Your smart phone not the newest one? Trash it! Your car 5 or 10 years old? Trade it in!

Well, this thought process isn’t just relegated to material objects, but now also to individuals: the poor, the immigrants, the homeless and destitute and included among them are the “dregs” of society; us, the criminals, the incarcerated! Those whom, many believe, have forfeited their rights to be welcomed back into society’s embrace, and thus are the most disenfranchised and expendable.

Now more than ever, those of us “existing” within the American penal system are feeling the effects of the zeitgeist. Trust me, 24 years of incarceration gives me the perspective and experience to opine on the changes that I have experienced.

There are those in our society who would minimize, disregard or even ridicule what I’m saying simply because I’m an inmate, a criminal; I committed the heinous crime of murder and nothing I do or say can be of any significance. I’m not entitled to an opinion, to be heard, to express regret or remorse for my past crimes nor to complain nor ask for succor for my current plight! I deserve no less in their view and am considered disposable and worthy of their disdain.

This is the most insidious aspect of incarceration. This treatment of being less than, of being unworthy of sympathy or empathy, of being disposable is, in my humble opinion, what is most truly damaging to one’s psyche, to the soul of what it means to be human; this, more than any other horror of prison! Its effects are incalculable, for no two individuals are affected by it equally nor is it always visible. Like a virus it can take hold, become a core belief of one’s self, and spread from individual to individual. For, if I believe I am worthless, I don’t matter, I’m society’s refuse, then so are all those around me and I will treat them and myself accordingly. How are men and women; who by and large already represent a large segment of this marginalized population (i.e. the poor, destitute, immigrant, etc.) who have for the most part already experienced some traumatic event in their lives, who have fragile egos, who are not always attuned to their emotional development; how are they supposed to be able to disregard this daily dehumanization?

More and more we see in prison people who aren’t life-long criminals; they’ve committed a crime to escape the ill effects of poverty or to feed an addiction born of years of emotional, psychological or physical abuse. Incarcerating them is the final nail in the coffin of their sense of self- worth. Most of their lives, they’ve been politically as well as economically marginalized, but now the last vestiges of their humanity are stripped away as they are socially marginalized. They’ve been labelled and stigmatized as convicts, as inmates and prisoners; no longer citizens with a voice but wards of the state, mere chattel of their masters. The comparison with this nation’s history of slavery is uncanny and eerily frightening. It doesn’t end upon one’s release. The eerie specter of stigmatization continues as an ex-con attempts to embark on a voyage of normalcy. But who will hire an ex-con? Who will give housing to an ex-con? Who will give an ex-con a second chance? Who will help an ex-con in dealing with his/her addictions and emotional and psychological wounds?

In this age of waste and discard, why not just toss them out onto society’s trash heap? This is the reality of what it means to be in prison in 2017 and of what awaits most of us (myself not included) fortunate enough to one day “return to society”. Most disheartening indeed!

J.R.Cyr 2/2017

P. S . So I thought I was done and then once again I’m instantly reminded of why I don’t matter; another example of my inhumanity and of being deemed unworthy of concern has manifested itself. Again, this institution, MCI-Nor- folk, once constructed to house 600-700 inmates, and currently at over 1400+, more than double the max capacity, has had an issue with water quality. Another institutional memo is posted, “No further water use until further notice” (i.e. no cooking, bathing, etc.) Once again the water’s filthy, tarnished, corrupted, brown with waste just like it’s been ad nauseum for the better part of the last 20 years, ever since I arrived here in 1996. It’s been that way because some civil servants in their infinite wisdom have deemed it acceptable to house us in here like cattle, in some 21st century version of Dachau or Buchenwald sans the ovens and smokestacks, but heavy on the disdain and oppression, which is the motto of the day, or week, or year! It’s embarrassing and shameful how I have to resort to such hyperbole to generate even a hint of interest, but let’s not forget that even when the water appears clear, there are still memos posted to remind staff or visitors to not drink or use the water in the institution. Yet, us modern-day slaves must drink it, bathe in it, wear clothes washed in it, do our daily ablutions in it, eat food cooked in it by these oppressors. There’s no getting around the fact that this water, for good or bad, is ours and here to stay!

Those of us lucky enough to have loved ones to send us money to purchase items in the canteen would be hard-pressed to purchase enough water. Even if we could spend the maximum allowed (given you are so blessed) of $85 of canteen on the 16 oz. bottled water sold to us at $0.65 per bottle, it would still be nowhere near enough. Let’s see, $84.50 for 130 bottles, equals 2080 ounces or 16.25 gallons. Not enough for one’s weekly consumption of drinking, cooking, cleaning and bathing! So instead, who cares if 1400+ convicts are cooking, cleaning, bathing and drinking water no better than that from Flint, MI. If it turns shit-brown, we’ll just tell them to stop showering or cooking till it clears up!

One more illustration that we’re truly on no one’s radar of concern. To the civil servant(s) of the DOC, we don’t matter and since our voices are inconsequential, it’s ok to be shit on once in a while. In the end we’re all going to wind up on the same trash-pile anyway!

I’m in that Place (Spanish Translation Below)

I’m in “that Place;” where you would rather be dead than alive because each passing minute strips away your humanity, punishment has no witness, measure, nor reason but is often justified because everybody here is equal to “that ONE!”

I’m in “that Place;” where your screams cannot be heard, your words are worthless, tears have no meaning & are just a result of many mixed emotions that no one seems to care about.

I’m in “that Place;” where the comforting touch of a humane hand, the soothing effect of kind words are substituted by merciless pain & an unforgiving sorrow numbing your soul.

I’m in “that Place;” where physical changes are highlighted, the appearance of gray hair as your hairline disappears, the wrinkled trace of hardtime(s) combined with the many aches & pains torturing your body (real or not), become the norm.

I’m in “that Place;” where you are measured by (but not limited to) “knowledge” in sports stats, gambling lines, personal exploits (past, present or future) & misplaced loyalties (for or against you) are just enough to “survive” another day talking about it…to do it all over again, the next.

I’m in “that Place;” where relationships wither, marriages fall apart, your kids loose respect, friends become strangers, family cannot find time & the ones who did are DEAD!

I’m in “that Place;” where for better or worse feelings are enhanced, emotions magnified & complaints are exaggerated. Where the little bit I had is taken away & the little bit given will help me fail again & again & again.

I’m in “that Place;” where men are made or destroyed, courage is challenged, integrity is tested, principles & beliefs are re-defined yet, it is my CHOICE to overcome!

I’m in “that Place;” where society is very critical, quick to blame, judge, lock me up & throw away the key into hopelessness but as the pendulum swings, soon enough, they will have to receive me (hesitantly) back into “their world” because I will be done with “This Place!”

Ely Iglesias

Estoy en Ese Lugar

Estoy en “Ese lugar;” donde los vivos prefieren la muerte porque con cada minuto que pasa desaparece tambien mi cualidad humana, porque el castigo es injusto, sin medida ni razón y se justifíca con que aquí todos son—iguales!

Estoy en “Ese lugar;” donde tus gritos no se escuchan, tus palabras no tienen sentido y tus lágrimas pierden el significado porque son el resultado de sentimientos que a nadie le importan.

Estoy en “Ese lugar;” donde resaltan los cambios físicos, aparecen las canas, resalta la calvície y las arrugas maraca el atropeyo de los años con molestias y dolores (reales o no) que torturan todo tu cuerpo.

Estoy en “Ese lugar;” donde la admiración?! se basa pero no está limitada al conocimiento de estadísticas deportivas, apuestas aventuras personales (pasadas, presents, y futuras) lo que fué y lo que no es (a favor ó en contra) lo suficiente para sobrevivir otro día más y repetir el proceso otra vez, mañana.

Estoy en “Ese lugar;” donde se sufren las relaciones, se deterioran los matrimonios, los hijos irrespetan, desaparecen los amigos, la familia ya no tiene tiempo y los que tenían tiempo para tí—¡Murieron!

Estoy en “Ese lugar;” donde el hombre se hace, se rehace ó se destruye, donde desafían tu hombría, tu integridad es puesta a prueba y tus principios, morales, y creencias se definen—pero solo—Yo tengo el poder para decider y/o cambiar.

Estoy en “Ese lugar;” donde la sociedad me critíca, me señala, me culpa, me juzga, me encierra y bota la llave dándome por incorregible/muerto pero el vá y ven del péndulo abrirá estas puertas y tendrán que darme la bienvenida a su “mundo” porque habré terminado mi condena en…¡Este Lugar!

Ely Iglesias