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We get complaints (mostly from prison guards) that we are unfair
to guards generally and to the staff of the Frackville state prison
in particular.
These gentle souls want to kill us, beat us and
definitely censor us.
Many of these writers seem to honestly believe that Frackville
prison guards are "normal" people with normal personalities and
a sanely rational make up.
They're in denial that they are
maladjusted.
Their violently hostile psychologies seem to them
to be "normal."
Yet all the while thay can't contain
their vindictiveness and desire to do harm.
By way of explanation, we vindicate our criticism of the guards
by describing a few events during three days of Christmas week.
The examples are from one small unit or "wing" of about 100
prisoners at the Frackville, Pennsylvania state prison.
It is
one of 3 such "wings" in a cellblock.
- The sergeant who runs the cellblock from which our examples
come is so insecure and aggressive that he must append a threat
to almost everything he says.
He's unable to simply communicate
or relate in normal ways.
He must threaten, bully and be
aggressive.
He's known for making mistakes, yet he's intolerant
of the mistakes of others.
In other words, he suffers from a
personality disorder.
We have no reason to believe that the sergeant isn't personally
an alright guy, he's just seems insecure.
- During our 3-day example, numerous misconduct reports
or "write-ups" were dished out by the guards.
I mention
three which reflect the mentality of the Frackville prison staff.
In the first write-up, a kitchen worker (paid 19 cents an
hour) was cited because, while in the kitchen he was drinking
coffee and had in his possession 13 little packets of sugar.
The actual value of the sugar was less than 6 cents!
On the same
day the guards stole over $320 in food
paid for by the taxpayers.
No guards were cited.
They regard
it as their right to steal from you.
The kitchen and messhall at the Frackville prison have no
ceiling, only an exposed wooden roof with exposed ducts, wiring,
pipes and so forth.
It's filthy and frequently drips condensation
onto the food.
The facility doesn't meet building or sanitation
codes.
The health of prisoners doesn't
much concern the Frackville prison administration.
Trays upon which the food is served and the plastic utensils
with which it is supposed to be eaten are habitually wet with
wash water and often unclean.
The area is overrun with guards.
One is paid over $20 an
hour to guard dirty plastic utensils.
Another one guards 35 cents
worth of food to insure that no prisoner gets too much.
A cadre
of others mill about to make positive that no prisoner sits in
a forbidden seat or departs before his assigned time.
In all,
about $500 in tax money is squandered each hour in the messhall
just to pay unneeded guards.
- The second write-up was for a hole in a knit cap.
This is
a true story, not something I've make up.
The prison issues knit caps.
When a man dies or finishes
his sentence, his cap is turned in and reissued to another
prisoner.
Most of the caps are quite old.
When new, they have
a real value of about 88 cents in a retail store.
Obviously,
an 88 cent knit cap doesn't last forever.
A young black man was cited on the trumped up charge of
"destroying state property" because he had in his possession a
knit cap with a hole in it.
He wasn't seen to damage the treasure,
only to possess it.
The guard who issued the write-up had a tear in his state
issued trousers.
He was not cited.
- The last of the misconduct reports was issued to a man who
was trying to get a letter typed about his legal case.
The federal
courts have repeatedly held that prisoners must be allowed
to help one another with legal matters.
Matter of Green,
586 F2d 1247 states, for example, "prison inmates have a
Constitutionally protected right to the services of inmate writ
writers, at least where legal assistance from qualified and
professionally trained lawyers is not available."
Other cases
upholding the right are Bounds v Smith, 97 seq 1491 (US
Supreme Court), Bryan v Werner, 516 F2d 233 ("inmates
must be allowed to assist other prisoners in the preparation of
legal petitions"), Rhodes v Robinson, 612 F2d 766 and
Wade v Kane, 448 FSupp 678.
The Pennsylvania Department of Imprisonment doesn't like
obeying the law.
Arrogantly, the "correctional" industry believes
itself to be above the law.
The imprisonment racket isn't about
helping people or about doing what's right or even legal.
It's
about doing harm and, of course, about keeping people in prison
as long as possible.
At the Frackville prison various devious schemes are used
to pervert and circumvent the law.
The strategy used to write-up the young man who needed a legal
letter was to charge him with "lending or borrowing."
What even
that inane rule may mean, it cannot lawfully apply to legal
assistance.
"Lending" implicates a transfer of ownership of some
article of value and a concomitant obligation or debt.
None of
that applies to legal assistance.
Like all Department of Imprisonment rules, this one is vague
so that guards can abuse it.
They don't miss the opportunity.
The violation of Constitutional liberties is routine by guards
at the Frackville prison and at many other places as well.
Among
other things, they want to intimidate prisoners from obtaining
legal assistance.
The goal is to keep prisoners weak, helpless
and easily dominated.
Prison guards have a need to dominate and
bully.
Call it a sickness.
We admit that we could be wrong.
Maybe prison guards and
the Frackvil1e prison are "normal."
These examples should help
you decide for yourself.
"It is from reason that justice springs,
but
goodness is born of wisdom"
Maurice Maeterlinck, 1898
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