Prisoner Abuse: Responses and Commentary
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Prisoner Abuse: Responses and Commentary
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May 22, 2004
Hello, November Coalition leaders, members, friends and prisoners:
I'm thinking about a lot of you today. As we see these images
of Iraqi prisoners being sexually and physically abused, many
are having difficulty dealing with emotions generated. Sleeplessness,
nightmares, and handling life's stress in the usual ways, intrusive
thoughts -- so take it easy on yourself.
Some are remembering prison abuse, others recalling the abuse
of loved ones. President Bush is unlikely to apologize to us
so quickly. But, we ought to be aiming in that direction, perhaps.
Clinton, and Bush Sr., Reagan and Carter ought to be in the picture
somehow, too.
Find someone to talk to, if you are stressing out. We are
bracing for the barrage of letters sure to come from the bowels
of our nation's prisons, calling on extra volunteers to assist
in categorizing, and sharing US prison abuse stories with fellow
citizens of the world.
Stories are unlikely to remain confidential, and we know that
retribution, retaliations are realities that stare hard, when
we contemplate a crush of information.
It's going to come regardless - transparency and information.
The president has prayerfully committed to it, I'm sure.
And likely a time that former prisoners, off paper, will step
up to the plate.
According to Seymour M. Hersh with the New Yorker Magazine,
May 10th, Torture
at Abu Ghraib, Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick, II, one
of the US soldiers in the terrifying photographs shown on 60
Minutes II, in early May, was the senior enlisted officer.
Hersh writes from documents obtained from a military hearing
April 9th, 2004. A government witness, special agent Scott Bobeck
testified that the US soldiers, in direct charge of Iraqi prisoners
were chosen because they were "civilian prison guards and
had knowledge of how things were supposed to run," and also,
"Frederick, at thirty-seven, was far older than his colleagues,
and was a natural leader; he had also worked for six years as
a guard for the Virginia Department of Corrections."
Read Torture
at Abu Ghraib. It is difficult to read, these very graphic
witness statements.
Again, transparency is problematic for Mr. Bush -- since 'the
promise' on Iraqi TV.
In light of this prison abuse in Iraq, our job is to honor
our country, and serve US soldiers overseas, and people imprisoned
in the United States. Exposing the US prison industrial complex
-- and the culture now unleashed on an unsuspecting world, is
part of our work.
Our president, Mr. Bush said of these photographs of abuse,
"I share a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated
the way they were treated. Their treatment does not reflect the
nature of the American people. That's not the way we do things
in America. I didn't like it one bit."
Problem is however, it is the way 'imprisonment' is done in
America. Remember the Cowboys? The rogue guards at the Federal
Correctional Facility in Florence, Colorado?
Read: Mama
Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, by Nora Callahan
And BOP
Rides Prisoners Hard, by the late Mark Harrison
I'm confident however, that Mr. Bush is correct about the
"nature of the American people."
In my heart of hearts I believe that if this country's "salt
of the earth" citizens become aware of a problem, arousal
follows, and action gets mixed in. November Coalition's founding,
and subsequent history, just one of hundreds of organizations
prove it.
Let's find ways to express our deep emotions in ways that
won't harm us emotionally. Take a walk with the kids, the grandkids.
Be good to yourself, best that you can.
Protect children from these prisoner abuse images best that
you can, but it is unlikely that you have been able to shield
them from television, newspaper stands, and magazine racks --
so talk to them. Bring in your minister, or your friends, perhaps
a trusted doctor if you see signs of stress in your family.
Older children in school are likely to be studying this unfolding
story -- make extra time for the children of prisoners.
The images are likely to continue, the stories more transparent.
British soldiers are involved in abuse, as are other "Coalition"
soldiers. The world press is covering widespread instances. It's
a story unlikely to go away.
If you can muster strength to turn this into good - you can
write some letters, make some phone calls. Might be a good time
to "Start a Family Group."
You can find some ideas at Family November Coalition Groups.
Experienced activists families, could alone, or with another
family might visit area churches. Try to avoid isolation, and
for many we know by experience, it is the first reaction to this
kind of episodic stress.
I am putting calls out to media contacts all over the country,
explaining that we have letters -- we just never had graphic
pictures that could describe the horror of sexual abuse -- therefore
had difficulty getting an audience for our concerns about US
prisons.
I hear that Rush Limbaugh, is saying this is no different
than college hazing! The far right falls off the planet of reason.
Well, perhaps now our words, and various appeals will be amplified.
Please write newspapers, and your legislators and tell them about
the prisoner abuse your loved one has suffered. Condemn irrational
sentencing schemes, the fraud of the war on drugs, and racial
impact of selective enforcement.
I fear that decades of unchecked prison abuse, and irrational
punishment has permeated a culture that preceded this current
climate. Today the world looks at us in horror.
This horror is not new. It is shameful, and the injustice
needs to end.
Good people of this country will reject the disgrace we share
-- even if we don't have digital pictures of US prisoner abuse.
Amnesty International reported in 1998: "Record numbers
of people in prison lead to widespread abuse of inmates by prison
authorities". (Amnesty
International Report: "United States of America Rights
for All," October 6, 1998).
Tom is building this webpage of responses and commentary collected,
and we hope that other US prisoner advocacy groups will do the
same. It's not something we are going to be able to cover adequately
alone, and soon we can offer a page of organizations leading
entire projects we can join in solidarity.
We hope that victims of abuse, many out of prison and 'off
paper' will come forward to tell their stories; that others in
fields of mental health, will step forward, and assist us in
helping people come forward, and collecting this important information.
Not unlike the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church - people
in leadership of US prisons, and the policies that rule them,
bear much responsibility in neglecting our prisoners.
This e-mail is just a small start, please share it with your
friends, family and colleagues.
Hug the kids a lot!!
In Struggle, 
June 23, 2004 - The Augusta Free Press (GA)
Wake up, America
Guest View, by Larry Dull
Ordering, requesting, etc., someone to commit a murder, robbery
or other felonious crime is against the law. The person doing
so can be held liable and prosecuted as well as the person committing
the crime.
Our president and his crowd fall within this law. We are not
at war, so the Geneva Conventions do not cover the crimes that
the military are supposedly committing in Iraq and other parts
of the world.
However, the people committing the crimes are being punished
- even though the ones who are ordering them are not.
Why doesn't our Justice Department charge President Bush and
his crowd? Our military are government employees. The president
is their boss and the person who has ordered them to kill if
necessary and to be killed themselves.
Are we not all equal in the eyes of the law? It seems to me
that we are not when it comes to the Bush crowd.
Wake up, America, before it's too late.
Larry Dull resides in Shalimar, FL
June 2, 2004 - Style Weekly (VA)
Prison-Abuse Story Stirs Response
Thank you, Laura LaFay ("Abu Ghraib in Farmville,"
May 19). I was beginning to think that I was the only one who
had noticed that one of the first persons charged in the illegal
treatment of detainees in Iraq had gotten his training right
here in the Old Dominion, at the Department of Corrections facility
in Cumberland.
It's a pity that so few people remember - or care about, if
they do remember - the experiments (Milgram, Stanford, etc.)
that show that even "normal" people can act like sadistic
monsters under the right conditions. All you have to do is to
redefine your victim as less than human, and give a little encouragement,
and a large proportion of people will brutalize or torture other
people. That our military didn't act on that is unconscionable;
that our commonwealth doesn't act on it is even worse.
Roy B. Scherer
To the editor:
When Charles Kehoe, the president of the American Correctional
Assn. flatly states that "What happened in Abu Ghraib is
not happening in correctional facillities in the United States"
he is stretching credulity. American prisons may be preferable
to some other countries', but they are certainly not the moral
standard that obviates comparisons with Abu Ghraib.
Ken Trentadue is an apt though not isolated example. He was
parole violator, a not violent, a father of 2, but possibly misidentified
as someone with knowlege of the Oklahoma City terror bombing.
Trentadue's bruised, bloody, neck slit body was removed from
a solitary confinement cell at the Oklahoma Federal Transfer
Center, his death immediately ruled a suicide. A local medical
examiner, deeply troubled by the evidence not already destroyed,
declared otherwise.
A coverup by the DOJ of the circumstances of his death continues
to this day. Despite overwhelming evidence indicating he was
beaten to death by select guards, Mr. Kehoe states " The
standards and oversight you seek are already in place".
We are to take solace in his statement that "The Department
of Justice has the power to investigate facillities where abuse
is suspected" Ques custodes custodit?
Kevin McHale, New York, NY
May 23, 2004 - The Bellingham Herald (WA)
Human Rights Abused Daily In U.S. Prisons
The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldier-jailers should
come as no surprise, and the apologies for such are not only
disingenuous, but they are also insulting. In a recent interview
with the Al-Hurra news network, Bush said: "People in Iraq
must understand that I view those practices as abhorrent. They
must also understand that what took place in that prison does
not represent the America that I know."
Bush is not the first American - nor will he be the last -
to turn a blind eye on U.S. prisons. Unfortunately for prisoners
in the United States, digital photos of abuse do not exist and
proper and due outrage remains only within the hearts and minds
of people who truly care.
The United States of America, the so-called "land of
the free," runs the largest prison system on the planet
and certainly the largest in human history. We have the highest
rate of incarceration per capita than any other nation. And to
those of us who do know - either by having worked in, or having
friends and/or family incarcerated - it is a system in which
human rights are abused daily. And now we are exporting that
system to other nations.
Tyree Callahan, Bellingham, WA
May 23, 2004 - The Times Reporter (OH)
To: Richard J. Farrell, Editor
Dear Mr Farrell,
As I read about Bush's money collecting "patriots"
and "warriors", I think that old thought over and over:
we have the best government that money can buy. Keep you policies
in line with public opinion polls and raise money for political
ads and in the mean time, make as much money for your friends
as possible. Our presidency has nothing to do with leadership
or leading America to a better future.
Our taxes are sky high, the burden of government onerous,
interest rates will increase like the price of gasoline and job
will continue to flee Ohio and our Nation, and no leadership
in sight by either party's candidates.
But last week I read two news items to encourage my faith
in democracy. And, they came from the most unlikely sources.
First, India, in an economic boom for the last several years,
had an amazing election. Out of the blue and with no one predicting
it, the Nationalistic, flag waving "leadership" was
voted out by the poor who had been left behind. The leading opposition
who won the election was a woman who was not even born in India
but whose family had long ties to the poor of India.
Not only that, but the last news was that she would not even
accept being made Prime Minister. She did it for the good of
the country. How refreshing! And the second piece of good news
came from Russia who just legalized possession of small amounts
of just about every drug you can imagine. Up to ten doses and
it is no longer a crime. Someone in Russia deserves recognition
for basic common sense.
The war on drugs can't be won and prison for two million Americans
will solve nothing but it will create even bigger problems for
our future as they get out. Two million angry degraded human
beings!
People forget that during Bush's Texas governorship, there
was a scandal in Texas over how prisoners were treated. Pictures
of naked Americans groveling on the prison floor of a Texas prison,
being bitten by guard dogs. The pictures from Iraq are nothing
new to Bush. But, maybe there is hope for our country if we can
only follow the footpaths of some other democracies around the
world.
Respectfully, Colin E. Bayliss
May 7, 2004
Dear Nora -
I want to personally thank you for your letter of support.
You are always there when I need you. I watched the hearings
and remarked to my husband that these photos would soon be on
a wall opposite those of the Holocaust.
[My husband] called me just before the hearings began and
then again shortly before they ended, so he and I have shared
our thoughts on the political aspect of this exposed activity
of our government. I have frequently used the old adage 'all
is fair in love and war' when he and I discuss his case and the
injustices of the drug war. While he has not told me of any abuse
directed toward him personally, I must say that I have always
feared the possibility simply because of all the literature I
have read about prison abuse. So I am a bit uneasy knowing that
those people got their 'training in our prisons.'
Your letter cast another view on this which I had failed to
considered -- what impact is this having on his children. Both
are in school, so I am sure they are talking about it either
in class or on campus. Also, their mother reportedly leaves them
alone at home fairly frequently (yes, it has been reported),
so I am sure they have seen the photos on television. I feel
kind of helpless considering I live almost 1000 miles away from
them. However, I have forwarded your letter to other family members
and have stressed that the children may be silently suffering
and need extra support during this stressful time.
Whatever I can do to help, I am here. Letter writing is on
my agenda but right now I must deal with the emotional part so
that I can organize me thoughts. Ironically, visions of photos
which a speaker at the UU convention in Orlando back in February
showed, keep popping into my mind! They were of Florida inmates
who had been badly burned with chemicals! Perhaps those need
to be dropped off at CBS!
Well, thanks again. I don't know that I would be able to deal
with some of this had I not found support from others who share
my experience.
Sincerely, A Concerned Citizen
May 7, 2004
I must say I was rendered speechless by President Bush's statement
of shock over the treatment of Iraqi prisoners. While the treatment
of these prisoners is shocking and horrendous it is not anything
that any American citizen with a loved one in an American prison
is not accustomed to.
Our family members and loved ones are subjected to beatings,
sexual assault, humiliation, intimidation, and general degradation
on a daily basis. This is not by the other inmates as you may
assume but by the guards of the facility.
At the Manchester federal prison camp in Manchester, Kentucky,
it is typical for life-sustaining medications such as insulin,
thyroid replacements and heart medication to be withheld at the
whim of the guards. Even the meat that is shipped to this facility
is marked "Not for human consumption".
So I ask you; why was our president shocked by the behavior
of the prison guards in Iraq? Some of the guards involved have
a history of employment within the U.S. prison system. It stands
to reason that they would bring their prior experience of dealing
with prisoners with them to Iraq.
What hurts me almost as much as the treatment of the men and
women behind bars is that the people with the power and opportunity
to correct this abhorrent behavior choose not to do so. Large
portions of the prison population are people incarcerated for
non-violent and often petty crimes. Many are drug addicts who
need treatment more than they need punishment. They are then
placed in an environment where torture and debasement are a common
occurrence.
After years of this type of treatment then they are released
back into society often with no more than a bus ticket. If any
of these people then commit another crime lawmakers use this
as reasoning to convince the American people that harsher laws
and longer sentences should be imposed to protect society while
never admitting that the system put into place to protect them
is what fosters the violence and disregard for others that many
prisoners leave their cells with. What a legacy to pass on.
So while I am also shocked and disgusted by the treatment
of Iraqi prisoners I am not at all surprised. I hope change will
take place in Iraq and at home so that I don't have to go to
bed at night worried that my loved one will be tortured or killed
while I sleep, just as I imagine the families in Iraq must do.
Sincerely, A Concerned Citizen
May 5, 2004
All the news frenzy and president Bush's disgust about the
treatment of Iraqi prisoners should be a wake-up call to the
fact that such treatment is common and standard procedure in
state and federal prisons' Special Housing Units (SHU). Why is
America and the world so shocked about the treatment of Iraqi
prisoners stripped naked and beaten since those practices were
exported from American prisons which the public has accepted
by denial. There have been thousands of civil rights cases by
state and federal prisoners settled or dismissed (for lack of
photos). Usually the government fights for the accused prison
guards to beat the cases.
Did anyone notice that some of those prison guards in the
Iraq prison were correctional officers in the USA? Wake-up America,
that was your own prison system philosophy caught on video. The
prisons of the United States are full of such abused prisoners
in SHU programs. It is systemic, and government protected. One
example: Branch v. Lamar, M.D. PA, No 3-97-1054.
Signed, A Prisoner of the Drug War, U.S. Penitentiary. Name
withheld to avoid a trip to SHU.
2M (Two Million,
Too Many) has released a timely song entitled Our Own Kind.
The song was written to warn that sadistic abuse unleashed
in Abu Ghraib was born in US prisons. A mix of folk verse,
ethnic rhythms, and mournful accordion, it takes the listener
to the horror of Abu Ghraib prison.
Download "Our Own Kind"
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