I’m still in the SHU, but in better spirits. I had to put my own situation into perspective, just as I did seven years ago. The man in the cell next door to me has been back here 14 months; someone else has been back here since November, and there are many others–a large portion of which are here for possessing cell phones, a device that people in the “free world” take for granted. I’ll be writing more about that soon–I know I say that a lot. I also, as always, keep close to my heart the examples of freedom fighters who came before me, and others who are still with us, all of whom have been through way worse. By now, I’m pretty much used to this.
All that said, I and a handful of others, including my cellie, are doing “dead time” back here. In other words, we’ve been back here in either ad-seg or disciplinary seg, but now either our investigations are over, or in case of the latter category, the time that they were sentenced to had run out. Now, we’re just sitting here waiting to get transferred. Until that time comes, we’re being punished, while some of us are not here for punitive reasons and others already did their sanctioned punishment. I use the word “punished” because we’re in the hole (number one) and number two, we don’t have access to our personal possessions (books, legal work, family photos, commissary hygiene products, etc.), and our commissary is restricted to over the counter medications, M&Ms, and an overpriced WWII era wind-up radio ($60.00). Showers are three days a week, phone calls twice a month, we’re handcuffed every time we leave the cell, subject to random shakedowns, access to administrative staff is limited to whomever pops up in front of our doors, little to no access to educational material and most pressing of all, we’re stuck in our cells 23 hours a day on weekdays, 24 on weekends. The hour of “rec” is spent in cages reminiscent of a dog pound, and it’s really just a larger space to walk around in circles. We all know this could be worse, but the question is, why be subject to this when the raison d’etre for us being in SHU does not exist anymore? How is that legal? Why can’t any of us (or anyone in the box period) get our personal books, family photos, or a fuckin’ real toothbrush??? Their response, the prisoncrats that is, always, invariably, is K-2, K-2, K-2. It’s the default justification for every over-the-top restriction. It’s either that, or “we don’t want you to be comfortable.”
Everybody leaving this facility has to be quarantined for 14 days. In the SHU here at Jesup, they merely slap a sticker on your door, and you and your cellie (yes you have a cellie on quarantine) go to “rec” separately. I’ve seen several people who have been under the quarantine for way more than 14 days, some for a month or longer, cause the bus didn’t come. For us who are doing dead time, who are not in protective custody, who would, if not for the fact that we’re getting transferred, would’ve been sent back to population, why can’t we quarantine in the designated quarantine unit out in GP? Then we’d have three hours outside of our cells, time to call our families and send emails, as well as possession of our personal property and full access to commissary.
For today’s dispatch from inside the belly, this is Justin Kaliebe.
#PrisonsKill.
#PrisonsKill 