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May 5, 2003 Hi friends and supporters- Below is a letter of thanks from Jesse for our successful advocacy last Wednesday, his first letter directed to the listserv. (I received a prospective visitor form with this letter, so if you'd like to visit, you should write to Jesse with your name and address. His updated mailing address is at the end of this email.) When I spoke with Jesse on Friday morning, the prison's fax machines were still full of our messages - notably those of "a group of nuns!" - as he told me then, and as you will read in his letter of thanks. Although Jesse hasn't received his prescription yet, it is apparently in the ordering process, and the phenomenal School of the Americas Watch volunteer attorney Bill Quigley will continue to be in touch with the Central Office to ensure that Jesse's paperwork doesn't get lost in the shuffle anymore. And as soon as we know anything more, I will post another message. I also spoke with Jesse briefly on Sunday morning, but the phone disconnected because he was "out of minutes," so he had to call back collect an hour later (inmates are allowed only one 10-minute maximum phone call per hour). Jesse finally agreed that I could let this listserv know that if anyone would like to make a small contribution to his prison money account, for stamps, phone calls and other incidentals, that would be very much appreciated. To make a donation, the only valid currency is an official money order (usually obtained at a post office or bank), with the full name and number of the inmate written on it. Your name and address must appear on the outside of the envelope that the money order is mailed in, and it should be addressed to the following BOP money processing office: Federal Bureau of Prisons Thank you again for all of your amazing advocacy and words of support. I know that your words have meant so much to me, and as you will read in his insightful letter, so much to Jesse. Take care and stay strong, May 2, 2003 First I have a message for all those who called, wrote or faxed Danbury Correctional Institute: When I went to work on Wednesday morning my medical records were still missing. When I returned, not only had the records been miraculously found, my prescription had been phoned in to Central Office and I was assured that although I have missed two shots, I will not miss a third. "Your point has been made," said the unit manager, "Please call off the dogs." The phone lines of Danbury Corrections were shut down by your calls, stopping all other business from occurring. I am told that the warden is still unable to use her fax machine. "The most recent faxes have been from a bunch of nuns," says the unit manager, a look of absolute bewilderment on her face. I can only smile, for communities who have devoted their lives to struggles for justice are familiar with a type of solidarity that leaves many at a loss for words. Members of LGBT communities and their allies know the specific fears I have faced in coming to prison: harassment, rape, assault, discrimination, and segregation. They know these fears because they are fears shared by all but the most privileged queer people. They know that these are fears we face when we are 'free' on the streets in a homophobic and gender-conforming dominant culture. Indeed, the most frightening part comes not from the risks themselves but from the fact that they must be faced while incarcerated in a system that strips people of their rights and their community, taking away our most important tools for surviving and changing the systems that seek to demonize and destroy us. Those who called and faxed showed that we take our community everywhere and are never truly removed from each other - not in fear, isolation, incarceration, or even death. Many of the people who helped in the advocacy process may have had no prior experience with or knowledge of LGBT, particularly T issues but knew simply that I was taking a stand for justice and peace and needed support. You knew that movements are weakend, not strengthened, when they are purged of color, told to be more professional (read: less young and/or working class), asked to distance themselves from those who might embarass - communists, homosexuals, extremists etc. You rejected what Leslie Feinberg calls "trickle down activism" where straight, white, and upper class members of a movement are singled out for better treatment, a few more crumbs, and encouraged to leave the riff-raff behind. As I sit on my bunk bed here, writing to you all from prison, I am reminded, and must remind you, that prisoners are among the most reviled, mistreated, and disenfranchised of those who reside in the U.S. 80% of the women who surround me are mothers. They work at least 40 hours/week at wages ranging from $5.25/month to $1.15/hour. They are not protected by Fair Labor Standards, the minumum wage, or union protection. Prisoners are even an exception to the 13th amendment of the constitution, abolishing slavery or involuntary servitude "except as punishment or in penal institutions." This exception existed from tthe time of its passage to preserve the institution of race-based slavery and it should disgust but not surprise any one to know that people of color are still sentenced to prison at far higher rates than whte people, given longer sentences for the same crimes, and denied parole and reduced custody more regularly. The fact that almost a month has passed without me receiving prescribed medication is only slightly worse than the 1-3 weeks it often takes, and more complex or expensive medical needs are even worse: 4 months for dental care, 3-12 weeks for x-rays, 1-2 years for simple tooth cleaning, and if you need surgery you may literally die first, if you can't wait the 6 months to 3 or 4 years it may take. Although at least 30% of women in general and closer to 60-70% of women in prison are survivors of sexual and relationship violence, they are subject to pat-down searches by any officer at any time and strip searches can be ordered by any officer and conducted by any female officer for any reason at any time. I have met two women (in a month of incarceration) who have become pregnant by guards. 1 in 4 women in prison has AIDS or Hepatitis already, yet education regarding the treatment and prevention of these diseases ranges from non-existent to minumal. What education there is often resembles what I was told during my orientation, a victim-blaming spiel along the lines of, "If you're thinking of going gay for the stay, don't, because some of these women have been prostitutes and drug addicts and you don't know what they've been exposed to." Some women have told me that they are glad for prison: finally they get treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, finally they got their GED, finally they escaped horribly violent family, boyfriends, or husbands. I am glad for these individual women and at the same time horrified beyond words. We create economic conditions in which selling drugs makes financial sense and social conditions in which using hard drugs makes sense and only provide relief from this through incarceration. We slash education budgets, re-segregate schools, return to the separate and unequal system supposedly destroyed in the '50s but make GED education not just available but MANDATORY through incarceration. We call domestic violence a private matter, do not prosecute or convict rapists, refuse to believe children who say they are abused to the point that the prisons of home and family can be excaped only through the prisons of state and nation. I can't help but wonder, what if every inmate had hundreds of people to advocate for their every right and need? Indeed, what if every person, long before the circumstances and choices of their life landed them in prison, had hundreds of people to advocate for their every right and need? That would be a revolutionary movement, and that is the type of movement we must build. "There is jail on both sides of the walls. One treats the street as a jail and acts to free it. One cannot avoid action to avoid prison because one is already in prison. The thing is to act against prison wherever one encounters it." - Phil Berrigan Much love- Jessica Carr #91389-020 |