Separation and Distance Two Repressive Tactics Used By Prison Authorities
Tactics of absolute control used by authoritarian régimes - like American prisons
Tactics of absolute control used by authoritarian régimes - like American prisons - include separating human beings from their possessions, property, loved ones, and resources and distancing human beings from basic human rights and essential privileges. Prison officials in the United States have been doing this so long and so often, they don't even realize what they are doing is inhumane, a violation of standards of human decency and wrong. But, prison guards and their masters suffer no consequences for their mistreatment - instead they are rewarded with a fat paycheck, benefits and pension. Passive mistreatment is what we live with today. Passive indifference. Tolerance of a society facing a downward spiral. Institutions, like prisons, are failing. These expensive correction facilities cost society money and integrity. Guards, staff, and administrators have become zoo keepers. And, attitudes about treating human beings like animals has extended beyond the prison gate and jail cell. Recently, in an effort to keep me from speaking out; from prosecuting important lawsuits against the Massachusetts DOC; filing grievances against staff misconduct in Souza-Baranowski Correction Center, among other reasons; I was transferred. The moment I was moved from my cell in Souza-Baranowski to a filthy wide open medium security facility, I was separated from my property. Separated from my typewriter, television, legal documents and everything I need to continue to fight the power. Authorities understand that taking property effectively shuts down descent. Without the tools and resources to complain about conditions of confinement, prison officials can carry on with their mistreatment. The public will never know about the restrictive housing units keeping human beings a distance from property, materials and tools to speak out. The public will never learn about the violent overcrowded conditions in American prisons. Officials who manage these institutions keep prisoners from speaking out by simply removing them, transferring, distancing. Keeping incarcerated individuals from general population, or a living situation that allows any kind of freedom of expression. Superintendents, rank and file correction officials, staff routinely move outspoken or disgruntled prisoners onto cellblocks or housing units with no access to legal materials, limited movement, constant lockdowns. In facilities, like Massachusetts prisons with WiFi, prisoners are moved into restrictive housing units with limited WiFi signal. Mail is slow-walked or withheld. Disciplinary reports further restrict telephone, email messaging, visits. This is the kind of distance from freedom and essential privileges that has become a tactic used by authoritarian régimes historically. Tools of repression. And American's have grown comfortable with this tyranny. When I was transferred from Souza-Baranowski to NCCI-GARDNER, this was a tactic designed to disrupt my writing and publishing; prosecuting important lawsuits and filing grievances against staff misconduct. On one level this separation from my typewriter worked. But, in case it didn't, I was sent to a filthy institution where contracting disease is common. I became sick from an e coli infection attacking my kidneys. After getting into a fight, I was returned to Souza-Baranowski. And, placed in restrictive housing. Further separating me from my property. No typewriter or other essential material to prosecute anything resembling resistance to these deplorable conditions. I have been effectively silenced. Today I face illness, loss of property, and distance from the routine privileges of general population, all because of the decision of a superintendent who felt threatened, or flexed his power, or just moved a pawn on the chessboard to get it out of the way. America seems determined to ignore the authoritarianism destroying institutions; malicious prosecutions; Prosecutors overcharging so they can coerce plea bargains. And, sadly the drum beat of authoritarianism is beating loudest from our nations jails and prisons.