Thursday, October 26, 2006

Tazing the Mentally Ill

Tazing, I think is pretty common. I remember the first time I was in the Victoria jail…and I was in a solitary cell where some 'trouble' women were kept. Most seemed to be mental illness cases...anyhow, one woman that was clearly mental ill was drug out one night by about 10 guards and dragged, screaming, to the "chair"- where they get tazed. She was gone a long time, then brought back around the early morning, a whimpering mass of jelly. I saw this also when I was being processed in Harris County jail one time and one man caused some minor trouble being processed and they drug him off and he got tazed too. He came back crying. A tough man too. -Prisoner, Texas County Jails, Harris and Victoria

Thursday, October 19, 2006

War of Attrition

Segregation is like slow torture. The continuous monotony of being locked in a cell for 23 hours a day, the lack of any meaningful activities or programming—no school or anything, the non-stop noise, which at times can be deafening, the palpable levels of anger, frustration and hostility which because of segregation inmates constantly express and direct towards one another, the consistent stench as a result of mentally disturbed prisoners relieving themselves on their floors, refusing showers and throwing bodily fluids, and the denial of basic privileges which are common to general population such as access to the telephones, reasonable visiting hours, easy and flexible access to the libraries and other prison legal service, denial of store goods—a variety of hygiene products, snacks, etc… All of these things combine to really wear on you emotionally, Intellectually and spiritually like a war of attrition.

(10 years in long-term segregation)
Michigan, Marquette Branch Prison