Harrisburg is the Unfriendly City, capital of a state that's dying from atrophy and neo-nazi politics. The commonwealth's only growing business is imprisonment. The guards and administrators who run the Camp Hill state prison across the river from Harrisburg all live in the Harrisburg area. As a group they are among the worst thugs and sadists in the country. It starts at the very top and oozes down to the common guards. These people are the same breed who happily tossed Jews into the furnaces at the Nazi concentration camps a couple generations ago. We've receive a steady stream of letters and pleas from prisoners at the Camp Hill prison. Each horror story is worse than the last. Each story recounts some of the abuse and inhumanity especially in the prison's principle dungeon. It's euphemisticly called a Special Management Unit or "SMU." In reality, it's a horror as bad as any in the third world. No civilized place should treat fellow human beings as these men are treated everyday. One thing is certain about the Camp Hill SMU, it drives men insane. It turns them into beasts. It makes them much worse. How is society benefited by making people worse? How does it benefit the taxpayers to manufacture predatory beasts? The whole program is insane and misguided. It's based on revenge, not on benefit to the society. The case of Michael Edwards is illustrative. He's been in prison holes for 10 years. He fights against an unjust and inhumane system. What would 10 years do to YOU if you spent them in a tiny isolated cell suffering daily deprivations? Mr. Edwards rightly fears for his life. Numerous victims have died in the Camp Hill dungeon. Many more have been seriously injured. He asked that if he's reported dead, we inform his sister that he didn't kill himself. Mr. Edwards has steadily fought in court, through the system and even physically when (as often happens) he feels that his life is in danger. He reports that there has been no heat or air conditioning in the SMU for 20 months. Food is withheld or intentionally contaminated, prisoners are held incommunicado without a scrap of paper on which to communicate with family or lawyers. They are deprived of exercise, sunlight and fresh air. They are frequently beaten, maimed and injured. The administration's excuse for such abuse is that these are bad people and they "deserve it." But, making people worse isn't what we, the public, deserve. That's Bush-Speak, evil appealing to the very worst elements in the worst recess of the human psyche. Mr. Edwards rightly feels that the whole torture program at the Camp Hill dungeon is racist. He points to the fact that of 26 prisoners only 1 is white and the blacks are all treated far worse than the whites throughout the prison. He reports on David Smith, a fellow sufferer in the SMU. Mr. smith was deliberately denied medical treatment for broken bones and other serious injuries. A doctor diagnosed his need for emergency surgery for his hand and shoulder. The so-called "Unit Manager," the man directly responsible for the conditions and abuses in the SMU, a guy named Chris Chambers, is quoted as saying that Mr. Smith wouldn't receive emergency treatment at the Camp Hill prison. That it was SCI-Huntingdon's responsibility. Indeed, each of the victims in the SMU have commented about Mr. Chamber's sadistic and abusive conduct. He seems to like to inflict suffering. Why would a public servant want to harm people? Perhaps it's a psychological abnormality. We intend to keep a spotlight on conditions at Camp Hill. Hopefully, they will improve. Hopefully, the goal of the system will change from revenge to improving the men.