The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.59/No.25           June 26, 1995 
 
 
From Behind Prison Walls Prison Officials Always Try To Snatch Away Rights  
"From behind prison walls" is a regular column written by framed-up political and trade union activist Mark Curtis. To write to Curtis send letters to him at #805338, Iowa State Penitentiary, Box 316, Fort Madison, Iowa, 52627.

After serving 30 days in the hole and eight months in administrative segregation, I was finally granted a 14-day time cut off my 13-month disciplinary sentence in May. If I continue to receive cuts from monthly prison classification reviews, this could be my last full month in lockup.

As my release date from lockup gets closer I find myself looking forward to the small freedoms it will bring.

It might seem odd that prisoners dread "going to jail," meaning`being put in disciplinary lockup. After all, we're already behind bars anyway.

Still, prison is rigidly structured to ensure that no matter how bad an inmate's got it, someone else has got it worse. Minimum, medium, and maximum-security, lockup, "the hole" and other statuses allow the prison to grant privileges or snatch them away. Further, any or all privileges, which I prefer to think of as rights, can be suspended in short order by the warden.

One or more of the cellhouses here in the Iowa State Penitentiary get locked down every couple of months for supposed security reasons. While a lockdown is on, nobody can leave his cell.

But even a disciplinary cellhouse like the one I'm in can be locked down. Last month we went through a week of that while the whole cellhouse was searched. During that time we were denied even the daily hour of exercise in the dogpens normally allowed. We couldn't make phone calls, get clean clothes, or even take a shower.

Every cell was shook down. A guard handcuffs you and places you in an empty cell or the shower cell and two of them poke through all your personal items. If you're lucky, you return to find your books, clothes, blankets, soap, everything, in a lump on the mattress. Bad luck is getting a disciplinary report for having "contraband" discovered in your cell. Contraband could be an item of clothing, food, a magazine, or anything not allowed in your possession.

At least two guys had all their property boxed up and taken over to the hospital where it was X-rayed. I returned to my cell to find it trashed but nothing seemed to be missing.

Two days later, however, I noticed that the new pamphlet on my defense case, Why Is Mark Curtis Still In Prison?, was missing. Even though the prison had refused to give me the pamphlet when it was first sent, the guards denied swiping it during the shake-down. All I can say for sure is that it is hard to misplace something in a 5' x 8' cell. I ordered a second copy, which I have received.

Lockup can seem like its own little world, a jail inside a jail. A neighborhood is created by the ranges of cells - one upstairs and one downstairs. After a few days we can easily identify one another by voice even if we never meet face to face. Besides talking and joking, playing chess is popular here. Each player sets up his board and calls out his move.

Although most will do less than a year of disciplinary lockup, there are a number of inmates who have served 5, 10, 15 years and more. The effect that has on one's mental health is not good. In fact, there are some prisoners who have gone over the edge. They babble senselessly, hallucinate, and scream in the middle of the night.

Continued lockup of these obviously sick men is not only irritating to others but cruel to those who clearly need humane hospitalization.

An alarm bell sounded this month when the governor of Pennsylvania signed a death warrant for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu- Jamal was railroaded to prison for the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer.

Support for his release has come in from prominent figures and thousands have signed petitions demanding that he not be executed. While in prison Abu-Jamal has spoken out on political issues and was preparing to give regular commentaries on National Public Radio until pressure from police and others caused cancellation of the program.

Not only do they want Abu-Jamal to die, but they want him to go quietly. Supporters of democratic rights must fight now to see that this crime is exposed and demand an end to the execution and Abu-Jamal's release.

 
 
 
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