| Not all of Pennsylvania's 100,000+ prisoners are warehoused
in the state's 25 prisons or 70 jails. More and more, conservative extremists
have adopted the tactics of other oppressive governments and used "hospitals"
as prisons. Punishing those who are ill, especially the mentally ill, has
been a fixture of repressive regimes since the time of Hitler. Since the
time of Stalin, oppressors have imprisoned countless others by pretending
that they were "sick."
Pennsylvania's mania for punishment and imprisonment has exploded under the state's extremist conservative governor and Republican administration. We get many emails and letters from ordinary citizens wishing that there was a little freedom in America (land of the locked, home of the lie). The following is an excellent example of such an email. "If anyone has a mental health record, or was arrested for any reason in the past, don't move to Pennsylvania unless you want to be falsely imprisoned [for] all of your life! Upon my arrival in the Harrisburg area, I was arrested for harassment. [It amounted to making] one telephone call. I was sentenced to 23 months [in jail] for the misdemeanor by [Dauphin County] Judge Scott Evans. [This is the same judge] who later released [his political crony], Harrisburg City Councilman DeGarcia. After [completing my jail] sentence, I was railroaded into the Harrisburg State Hospital, [a mental institution]. My life has [become] a fight for survival and for the civil rights of the inmates here. Under the Governor Ridge Reich and this hospital's administration, we are locked-down 24 hours a day. We must "earn" holiday and weekend passes. The inmates' smoking and exercise yards are [prison-like] fenced-in courtyards. Only a select few inmates may go outside alone or [even] work at tedious jobs for low pay. Most psychiatric inmates receive "SSI" or "SSC" [payments]. [The money] is then taken by the hospital administration, but we receive [only] the poorest health care. The doctors forcibly drug us with [powerful chemicals], Haldol, Prolixin and Thorazine concentrates. If we refuse [to take] these dangerous toxic drugs, most doctors order injections. We aren't criminals, but many people have been imprisoned [for] 20 or more years in this "hospotal" because they are homeless or lack family support or the administration wants [to collect] money from the public. Personally, I [suffer from] obsessive-compulsive disorder and not a mental illness. But [because of] my outspoken personality and courage, [I'm] perceived as a "troublemaker." While I speak out to change the imprisonment of people with brain disorders, most psychiatric inmates exist in quiet depression." Signed "Angel In Disguise," AKA Kathleen Euker. We support this woman's efforts and we deplore the punishment and exploitation of the ill and the mentally ill. |
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