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Prison
is a hate factory
that costs $8 million a year
"Another Congress forgets prisoners, reform" (DesMoines
Register) +++ "Using Muscle to Improve Health Care for
Prisoners" (New York Times) +++ Poems Of Guantanamo
( Scroll a third of the way down page to Current Prison
News,)
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THE HATE FACTORY
by G.
Hirliman
Revised Edition from iUniverse
2005 All online booksellers carry The Hate Factory. You can purchase it in book or electronic form and write a review at Amazon.com Border's Books carries The Hate Factory on their shelves and will special order it for you if out of stock. All bookstores will special order it for you. |
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Savage.
Brutal. Barbaric. These words describe the rampage of murder, rape and
torture that occurred on February 1, 1980.
In the most violent prison uprising in
American history, bitter, mistreated inmates led a riot that lasted
thirty-six hours, claiming thirty-three lives, and turning one of the
country’s most poorly run prisons into THE HATE
FACTORY.
First published in October 1982, THE HATE FACTORY became the hottest contraband book in prisons nationwide. “The New Mexico riot is legendary among cons,” says filmmaker Sean Wilson, who is bringing THE HATE FACTORY to the screen as a follow-up to his debut feature, Downtime, based on his own experiences while serving five years in the federal prison system after being convicted of drug-trafficking. In the fifteen years since the first edition has been out of print, THE HATE FACTORY has reached cult status, selling for $50-$150 on eBay and by used-book sellers. Since it's release in October 2005, it has become the second highest seller in Local Interest at Border's Books in New Mexico. The same lax
security that paved the way for the riot of 1980 is occurring twenty-five
years later at the Penitentiary of New Mexico. In April 2005, after the
Legislature refused them a pay raise, more than 1,100 prison guards
picketed for the resignation of the current Corrections Secretary. Said one corrections officer, “There’s…one officer
doing the job of two or three. That’s
what makes it a dangerous place for us to work.”
Not enough money was allocated to hire the number of guards
required to keep the prison secure, let alone give raises. Could history repeat itself? Overcrowded
conditions, young and unskilled guards, and a no-care attitude of prison
administrators all contributed to the anger, despair, and bitter fury that
erupted with mind-searing violence. Fortified
with liquor and homemade knives, sixty-two inmates began taking control of
the prison. Though fourteen
guards were held hostage, beaten, and sodomized, none were killed; the
inmates saved the brunt of their rage for fellow convicts.
G.Hirliman,
with a crisp, descriptive style, has written a book that will stir the
nation’s conscience. The
uncensored account of the violence that occurred in what Time magazine
described as “the nation’s most notorious prison” is revealed in
this startling, graphic, updated second edition of THE HATE
FACTORY.
A thought provoking, sensational account, THE HATE FACTORY raises many serious questions about the worsening conditions in America’s correctional institutions, which as of July 2004 hold more than 6.9 million men and women in jails, prisons, on probation and parole. About the
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"As a therapist in New Mexico, having worked in corrections for a number of years, starting in 1983, I have worked with a number of survivors of that massacre. They all tell their own stories which validate the author's perspective. In addition, a member of the National Guard who went into the prison, and who is a friend of mine, states the horror was worse than this book. It is significant to note that there were many more than the 30-some bodies reportedly to have been found dead by the National Guard. My compassion is strong for anyone having to do "time." The general public will never know of the day to day mental torture." "I was almost 12 years old, living in Santa Fe, when the riot occurred. I remember my dad telling me how bad things were going to be when it finally ended. I remember seeing the smoke billowing up from the burning facility...I've since been to see the old prison where this all happened and can tell you there are still marks on the walls, floors and ceilings from the riot. This book tells it like it was. Like other reviewers have stated, it's one you can't put down. I've read The Devil's Butcher Shop as well as Politics of a Prison Riot, which is also about the 1980 riot, and this book is the best of the three." "I had been working for the New Mexico Department of Corrections 8 months prior to the 1980 riot. The book has a very good impact on the truth of the conditions of the prison and the politics, but what happened you could only imagine! When you cage or chain up an animal you can only fear for the worst. I still work for the department, it's going to be twenty-four years, I still pick up the book and read it, it brings back the reality of my job." "It was the most explicit, graphic, piece of non-fiction that I have ever read in my life. The fact it was based on actual events was disturbing in itself. Good description of human nature at it's worst. Not intended for young readers, but it should be read by every corrections officer, and criminal psychologists." ===
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The Hate Factory's
dedication is
"To the End of Prisons." The last paragraph of the Forward, which brings the reader up to date with the changes in New Mexico's
Corrections administration from the riot to 2005, speaks to this: E-mail me
your idea for a new penalty or for making prison a more humane and
instructive environment. |
Take a look at how Finland
hands out penalties. They consider the concept of an eye for an eye
barbaric. When they built their prisons around that thought, the crime
rate dropped 40% and has maintained that for twenty years.
CURRENT PRISON NEWS:
New York Times August 27, 2007
USING MUSCLE TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE FOR PRISONERS by Solomon Moore
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Last year, shortly after receiving extraordinary powers to overhaul the medical system in California's prisons, Robert Sillen, armed with a stack of court papers, issued a blunt warning to cabinet officials at the governor's office in Sacramento.
"Every one of you is subject to being in contempt of court if you thwart my efforts or impede my progress," said Mr. Sillen, a silver-haired former hospital administrator chosen to carry out the overhaul of the prison medical system as the result of a class-action suit brought by a prison advocacy group....
In a subsequent warning, Mr. Sillen threatened to "back up the Brink's truck" to the state's treasury, if need be, to finance better medical services for the state's 173,000 inmates....
For decades, California officials have tried to bring order to the state's prison system, which is the largest in the nation....but never has one person attacked a problem, piece by piece, with such blunt force and disregard for political convention as Mr. Sillen has the prison system....
Mr. Sillen asked the federal courts last month to take on the costly -- and politically contentious -- task of reducing California's prison population, including the early release of some felons....
Mr. Sillen....attributed the state's prison problems to tough-on-crime lawmakers who made political hay out of sentencing laws that filled the state prisons without expanding either the facilities or their services....
After 15 months on the job, Mr. Sillen acknowledges that sick prisoners still suffer ways deemed unconstitutional by the federal court and points to recent deaths as an indication of a long road ahead. In one case, Jonathan J. Smith, 32, a quadriplegic serving time for armed robbery, died while shackled in a prison van. The van, which had no air-conditioning and no medical staff, became lost for five hours last summer while returning to Centinela State Prison in Imperial County after a doctor's appointment. Temperatures reached 109 degrees that day, contributing to Mr. Smith's death, according to corrections officials....
The poor state of medical care in California's prisons was evident in the West Block clinic at San Quentin, the state's oldest penitentiary and the first to be visited by Mr. Sillen. "It was unclean, it was unkempt, and there were no sinks, no phones, no faxes, no way to communicate, no nothing," Mr. Sillen said. "And that's the clinic. It was just worse than Third World conditions."...
He has since built a $1.6 million triage center and has broken ground on a larger, $150 million medical center, but the West Block clinic is such a low priority that it is still in the same small dirty room at the back of a prison gymnasium that had been converted into a dormitory to relieve overcrowding.
Women who work there as nurses avert their eyes as they pass 380 inmates who are lounging on rows of double bunk beds, standing in open showers or sitting on exposed toilets that line one wall of the former gymnasium.
A doctor who visits three times a week sits at a desk next to a toilet. He treats some 80 to 100 inmates each visit and cleans his hands with antibacterial sanitizer. There is still no sink.
+++
Des Moines Register -- Forums, August 25, 2007
ANOTHER CONGRESS FORGETS PRISONERS, REFORM by Fran Koontz and Ray Koontz
(Ray and Fran Koontz live in Des Moines. Their son, John, 51, is serving his 11th year in federal prison on drug and weapons charges. He was sentenced to 25 years. There is no parole in the federal system, and prisoners must serve 85% of their sentences. Unless the laws are changed, John Koontz will be 62 when he's released.)
With our son in prison, we held out hope that a Democratic Congress would usher in a return to reason and would reform federal prison sentencing.
Eight months later, nothing has happened. Drug addicts and mentally ill people continue to be incarcerated, and tax dollars continue to be wasted.
We had hoped to see Congress reinstate parole in the federal prison system and outlaw mandatory minimum sentences, which take discretion away from judges. We had hoped to see the release of nonviolent offenders who had served more than 10 years and are over age 45. Beyond wasting money, continuing to warehouse them past that age is just plain criminal.
Forgotten in all of this, of course, are the prisoners, rotting away at taxpayer expense. They work at less than slave wages, with no hope of parole and no treatment for their mental illnesses or addiction.
Here's a glimpse at a rare visit:
They stare out through bars as their families drive into the parking lot. We wave toward the window that we know to be theirs, smiling through our tears. We fill out forms and take off our shoes and belts. Rings and watches go through metal detectors. We're not allowed to wear toeless shoes, sleeveless blouses or jackets past a certain date, even though it's chilly in the visitors room. We can't carry purses, only clear plastic, with $20. Everyone runs for the vending machines. We'll be here six or eight hours, and that's the only food available.
We wait, nervous, anxious for our son to come through the door from the cell area. There he is, smiling, hurrying toward us, arms outstretched for our far-too-seldom hugs and kisses. That's all we're allowed. We long to hold him, touch him, make sure he's still whole, body and spirit. We're not allowed. Only one hello hug and kiss, and one in saying goodbye.
We talk about everything and nothing. He catches u on family doings. He longs to attend the Koontz family picnic, play ball with cousins, visit with aunts, see all the new "little ones" born in the past 11 years.
Unless Congress acts to remember our forgotten sons and daughters, we won't live to see our son at our table again.
Prison building is a growth industry in the United States today. Once a prison is built, it's a capital investment and must be filled. The jobs, once created, must be sustained for those working them. Small towns compete for "prison industries," while we outsource real manufacturing jobs overseas.
Sons and daughters of the working class fill these prisons, kids who drank too much and used illegal drugs, hurting themselves and those who loved them. Forty-five percent of federal prisoners suffer from mental illness, according to the most recent Department of Justice data. Fifty percent reported using illegal drugs in the month before their offense, but less than half of those classified as drug dependent or abusing took part in any drug treatment since their admission to pri9son, the department reported.
These mentally ill people and drug abusers have been forgotten by lawmakers who get elected on "tough on crime" platforms.
Many people say, "Well, they broke the law." Yes, and they destroyed themselves and their families in the doing. Should taxpayers spend millions each year "protecting" themselves from people who themselves need protection -- but only from themselves and their illnesses?
Our kids are sick. Let's stop locking them away. Contact your representatives in Congress to demand changes in federal prison laws. Are representatives meeting the needs of their constituents and these forgotten prisoners, or are they meeting the needs of special interests? At election time, we should not forget those who let this terrible travesty of justice continue.
Now, the presidential hopefuls are coming to town, promising job protection, health care and education. Some want to protect the "sanctity" of the unborn while ignoring the lives of those already here. The poor, jobless, homeless, mentally ill, addicted and imprisoned are all ignored. Oh well, they won't vote anyway.
The candidates have to raise big bucks to
buy TV time to keep K
Street vendors as friends. Yet, after November 2008, the prisoners, our
loved ones, will be forgotten again for another four years.
Please let our son come home.
If you are interested in federal criminal justice reform, join FedCURE at http://www.FedCURE.org/join.shtml This article came to me from a FedCURE member.
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commondreams.org
News Center June 21, 2007
INMATES WORDS: THE POEMS OF
GUANTANAMO
The publication of an anthology of
works, composed on paper cups by detainees, provides a harrowing insight into
the torments and fading hopes of prisoners.
by Leonard Doyle
The words of the celebrated Pakistani poet were scratched on the sides of a Styrofoam cup with a pebble. Then, under the eyes of Guantanamo Bay's prison guards, they were secretly passed from cell to cell. When the guards discovered what was going on, they smashed the containers and threw them away, fearing that it was a way of passing coded messages.
Fragments of these "cup poems" survived, however, and are included in an 84-page anthology entitled Poems from Guantanamo: the Detainees Speak, to be published later this year by the University of Iowa Press.
The verses provide a harrowing insight into the torments and fading hopes of the prisoners... They were brought to light by Marc Falkoff, a US professor of law with a doctorate in American literature. He represents 17 Yemeni inmates and has made 10 visits to Guantanamo. He dedicates the book to "my friends inside the wire."...
Censorship remains absolute at the camp however. As far as the US military is concerned: "poetry...presents a special risk, and DoD (Department of Defense) standards are not to approve the release of any poetry in its original form or language." The fear, officers say, is that allegorical imagery in poetry may be used to convey coded messages to militants outside.
This is scoffed at by Professor Falkoff..."What the military fears is not so much the possibility of secret messages being communicated, but the power of words to make people outside realize that these are human beings who have not had their day in court."
The thoughts of the inmates are considered so potentially dangerous by the US military that they are not even trusted with pen and paper. The only exception is an occasional 10-minute period when they are allowed to write to their families via the International Red Cross. Even then the words they write are heavily censored.
The 380 or so inmates of Guantanamo include some avowed Islamic militants and al-Qa'ida fighters. But the majority are there because they were swept up by the police and intelligence services of other countries working on behalf of the US. In their despair many of these detainees have turned to verse to express their innermost feelings.
THE POEMS
Humiliated
In The Shackles
by Sami al Hajj
(An Al-Jazeera cameraman, Sami al Hajj, a Sudanese, was visiting his brother in Damascus after the 11 September attacks when he got a call asking him to go to Pakistan to cover the impending war in Afghanistan. Instead, he ended up in Guantanamo where he claims he has been severely and regularly beaten, scarring his face.)
When I
heard pigeons cooing in the trees,
Hot tears covered my face.
When the lark chirped, my thoughts composed
A message for my son.
Mohammad, I am afflicted.
In my despair, I have no one but Allah for comfort.
The oppressors are playing with me,
As they move freely around the world.
They ask me to spy on my countrymen,
Claiming it would be a good deed.
They offer me money and land,
And freedom to go where I please.
Their temptations seize
My attention like lightning in the sky.
But their gift is an empty snake,
Carrying hypocrisy in its mouth like venom.
They have monuments to liberty
And freedom of opinion, which is well and good.
But I explained to them that
Architecture is not justice.
America, you ride on the backs of orphans,
And terrorize them daily.
Bush, beware.
The world recognizes an arrogant liar.
To Allah I direct my grievance and my tears.
I am homesick and oppressed.
Mohammad, do not forget me.
Support the cause of your father, a God-fearing man.
I was humiliated in the shackles.
How can I now compose verses? How can I now write?
After the shackles and the nights and the suffering and the tears,
How can I write poetry?
My soul is like a roiling sea, stirred by anguish,
Violent with passion.
I am a captive, but the crimes are my captors'.
I am overwhelmed with apprehension.
Lord, unite me with my son Mohammad.
Lord, grant success to the righteous.
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Death
Poem
by Jumah al Dossari
(Arrested in Pakistan and held in solitary confinement since 2003, Jumah al Dossari's mental wellbeing is worrying his lawyers. The 33-year old Bahraini national has tried to kill himself 12 times since his incarceration in Guantanamo. On one visit, his lawyer found him hanging in a bedsheet noose, with a deep gash in one wrist. In a letter Mr. Dossari wrote in 2005, he said: "The purpose of Guantanamo is to destroy people and I have been destroyed.")
Take my
blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my copse at the grave, lonely.
Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.
And let them bear the guilty burden, before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden, before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the
"protectors of peace."
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Is
It True?
by Osama Abu Kadir
(Shortly after 11 September, Osama Abu Kadi travelled to Pakistan to perform charity work in Afghanistan with the Islamic missionary group Tablighi Jamat. The US claims Tablighi was providing fighters for jihad in Afghanistan and arrested M. Kadir near Jalabad in Novembe 2001. In his native Jordan, he was known as a dedicated family man who worked as a truck driver. In Guantanamo, he is known as prisoner number 651.)
Is it true
that the grass grows again after rain?
Is it true that the flowers will rise up again in the Spring?
Is it true that birds will migrate home again?
Is it true that salmon swim back up their streams?
It is true. This is true. These are all miracles.
But is it true that one day we'll leave Guantanamo Bay?
Is it true that one day we'll go back to our homes?
I sail in my dreams. I am dreaming of home.
To be with my children, each one part of me;
To be with my wife and the ones that I love;
To be with my parents, my world's tenderest hearts.
I dream to be home, to be free from this cage.
But do you hear me, oh Judge, do you hear me at all?
We are innocent, here, we've committed no crime.
Set me free, set us free, if anywhere still
Justice and compassion remain in this world.
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commondreams.org News Center June 27, 2007 by Reuters
Going Backwards: US Jail, Prison Population Has Biggest Rise in 6 Years
by James Vicini
WASHINGTON -- The United States, which has the most prisoners of any country in the world, last year recorded the largest increase in the number of people in prisons and jails since 2000, the Justice Department reported on Wednesday.
It said the nation's prison and jail populations increased by more than 62,000 inmates, or 2.8 percent, to about 2,245,000 inmates in the 12-month period that ended on June 30, 2006. It was the biggest jump in numbers and percentage change in six years.
Criminal justice experts have attributed the record US prison population to tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crime rates.
...Jason Ziedenberg of the Justice Policy Institute, a group that seeks alternatives to incarceration, said the new numbers showed an "alarming growth" in an already overburdened prison system.
"Billions of public safety dollars are absorbed by prison expansion and limits the nation's ability to focus on more effective strategies to promote public safety," he said.
Officials of the Drug Policy Alliance, another group opposed to long prison sentences for drug offenders, said the drug policies of the past 30 years have been a major contributor to the US prison population explosion.
According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College in London, the United States has long had the world's largest prison population, followed by China at 1.5 million and Russia at 885,670.
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I look forward to your ideas for alternatives to prison, and your comments.
