At the Woebegone (pseudonym) Correctional Facility the women are not allowed
to touch one another or risk a "major infraction." Sharing, even a small
piece
of candy, is against prison policy and women have been written up for lending
a smoke. Reciprocity is a no-no thus effectively constraining bounds of
solidarity. Surveillance is 24/7 and when you get the snow detail expect to
awakened at 2:30 AM for a 3 hour stretch out in the freezing cold picking ice
with a
plastic shovel. The Governor, a woman, ordered the Christmas lights off this
year to save money. The work is virtual slave labor with full day shifts
making
dental materials.
This year Christmas exploded when one prison guard brutally murdered another
guard at the gas station across the street. Many prisoners heard the fatal
bullets. It turns out the shooter has been bullied severely by the victim
and took out his recourse in this violent way. Later he shot himself in the
chest but is recovering. Needless to say the women are highly distressed by
all
this. Not only did they know the guards (and sympathies go different ways),
but the killing brings back tough memories of other shootings, often of
abusive
husbands. There is no counseling for the women.
We talk with a jailhouse lawyer who has managed to get a first degree murder
conviction
overturned to second degree, thus giving some hope after 18 years. And we
talk
anthropology. . .they are the smartest undergraduates I have ever had the
pleasure of, ahem, dialoguing with. Topics include "Marxist economics" (with
nods to Mike, Doug and Proyect), "take back the earth," "radical
anthropology" "How we are political prisoners," "Are the real criminals the
folks getting
elected, and those underwriting the TV ads?" and "when will the 2nd American
revolution take place?"
Brian McKenna
**************
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