"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 315, Fort Madison, IA 52627.
FT. MADISON, Iowa - On August 2 I emerged from the tomb of cellhouse 319 after a disciplinary lock-up of eleven months and ten days, including one month spent in the "hole."
For nearly a year I never left my cell, even to go to the shower, without my wrists in cuffs. Even as I left the cellhouse, I lugged my locker box wearing handcuffs all the way until just past the cellhouse door.
In prison, getting "out of jail" means trading one cellhouse for another, in my case for one of the general population units. The maximum security Iowa State Penitentiary (ISP) here in Ft. Madison is the only prison in the state that is not overcrowded. While other state prisons burst at the seams, ISP is under court order to maintain a population of 550. Everyone has their own cell; there is no double bunking. This prison is also the most restrictive. You are only allowed two hours a day in the yard for recreation and enjoying the sunshine. Until I get a job, it's the only time I'm out of the cell besides the three treks a day to the chow hall.
Nevertheless, those small freedoms and other factors have a positive psychological effect.
The general population cells are the same size as the ones in lockup, but much cleaner. So are we, since we are allowed to shower daily.
Things long denied in lockup seem like an exotic oddity. When combing my hair, I still have to break the automatic reflex of scrunching down to see my reflection in the shiny water faucet handle as I did for the many months in lockup, instead of looking in the mirror, which I can do now.
And I retrieved my property: shampoo, instant coffee, cassette player, and the typewriter I'm using to put these words down on paper.
Never having been in this yard before, I used my rec time to see what's available: a jogging track, weight lifting equipment, and pay phones. When it started to rain, I ducked into the gym, greeted friends, and watched a basketball game.
It's striking how few inmates are on the yard at any one time. About 150 men are in disciplinary and kept in their cells in the punitive units. Inmates in "protective custody" are also restricted, except for two hours in the evening. The remaining 250 to 300 men are divided into three separate yard times although most are at work in the kitchen, furniture shop, or do maintenance work and the like.
The library contains a large but mostly outdated and irrelevant collection of books. The chow hall is the home of fast eating, if not fast foods. You get 20 minutes to get through the line and eat before a buzzer sounds and a red light comes on. Like a drag race, that's the "get set" signal. You have five minutes more until another buzzer and a green light, meaning, "pop the clutch, the meal is over."
I've gotten reacquainted with old friends, one of whom told me how much he enjoyed the Pathfinder book How Far We Slaves Have Come!, with speeches by Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela. He was surprised when he learned the role Cuban troops had played in defeating apartheid.
Word got around that I was out of lockup. One young man came over and asked if I was the "political guy." We've had several wide-ranging discussions on socialism, crime, and racism. He told his friend about the Militant and both of them caught up with me in the chow line to ask if I thought a revolution in the United States was possible and what I thought about China. A number of men expressed interest in the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal when they noticed me reading Abu-Jamal's book Live From Death Row.
I am also reading the book Lenin's Final Fight in an effort to better understand how Lenin fought to maintain the communist course of the Russian revolution. I will soon start a several-part discussion of this book with friends from Des Moines and Peoria who visit here on weekends.
It's also my intention to resume exercising. It has been repeatedly brought home to me that I am out of shape. Lengthy periods in lockup can have a negative effect on the body.
If I came out a little stronger in my political convictions than I went in, it is because of the solidarity of many beyond prison walls.