And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: "Joel and Lynn GAzis-SAx" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 22:53:44 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 During the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, the prison system moved towards a rehabilitative form of prison. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, it was decided that prisoners were getting it too easy. This article about a recent UN Human Rights Report on the U.S. tells about one state's shocking handling of prisoners. On Thu, 10 Jun 1999, Lisieux <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote to the PATRICKCRUSADE mailing list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> as follows: At the (May 1999) Geneva human rights conference, it was remarked that Washington State was being rather unfair to female inmates when it was discovered that it had *officially* told female inmates that they would be severely punished if they objected to being used sexually by corrections officers. Corrections officers are still bitterly resentful of this 'job bonus' being at least temporarily suspended. Various States operated a similar scheme of barbarity. Washington is the only one -- as far as I know -- that made no significant secret of the direction which was officially relayed to the female inmates. The "system" of authorized abuse only broke down when corrections officers began jumping on females openly without first taking them to the canteen or a laundry room or a store. It was also noted that the Washington Department of Corrections was as good as their word -- inmates were punished severely if they complained. The Washington DOC also tried to coerce abortions for inmates who had been raped by their guards. The problem with the American prisons system is that: (1) it is not a system but a myriad patchwork of institutions very few of which would be regarded as adhering to EU or UN standards; (2) there are no plans to make it a unified system with controls; (3) The USA unlike other adbvanced countries does not adher to human rights standards of any great utility; (4) those human rights standards that do in theory apply as a factor of the Bill of Rights don't really apply as corrections officers in effect have complete and utter impunity from prosecution and systems of impunity have been deliberately eststablished. This was noted by *three* separate investigations into human rights abuses in the USA. If the devil wanted to establish a prison system he'd be well advised to go look see as the prison "non system" of the USA -- to the extent that it is in no way, shape or form remotely like any other prison system in the Western or civilized World, it is the worst of it's kind of any western country. They don't make them that bad anywhere else. See the article at <http://www.prisonlegalnews.org/index.html> These and other current and former black employees from across Washington state say the department is rife with racism and that they frequently receive, through word and gesture, a message similar to the one posted by the white guard: We don’t want minorities here. The sentiment manifests itself in a number of ways, including a daily barrage of racist language -- like guards referring to Martin Luther King Jr. Day as "Happy Nigger Day" at Clallam Bay. Two groups of black guards, one from Clallam Bay and one from the Washington Corrections Center at Shelton, have recently filed lawsuits against the Washington DOC, hoping to draw attention to the department’s policies and force change. Last July, Jackson, Bailey, Doris Washington, Earnest Grimes, and Valinda Andrea -- current and former guards at Clallam Bay -- filed a $500,000 suit claiming that they’d been subjected to a racially hostile environment. The guards describe a frightening atmosphere where white guards refer to blacks as "coons" and worse; where minority prisoners are targeted for beatings; where black guards receive threats; and where white guards feel comfortable enough to brag in front of other employees of membership in hate groups like the KKK. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
