Letters from Prisoners
Cruel and Unusual Treatment
July 14, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The following are excerpts from letters sent to the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund
We greatly appreciate receiving these letters from
prisoners and encourage prisoners to keep sending
us correspondence. The views expressed by the
writers of these letters are, of course, their own; and
they are not responsible for the views published
elsewhere in our paper.
“The deepest and long-lasting scars...”
June 30, 2013
When I read the June 9th, 2013, Revolution article titled “Prisoner Letter: From Pelican Bay SHU to Guantánamo: ‘We share the same torturer,’” I wondered how many of the general readers, who’ve never endured indefinite solitary confinement for years (let alone decades), was really capable of internalizing that article as vicariously as I did. I think for a lot of us, who’ve been subjected to this shit for years, have struggled tremendously in conveying to our friends and family just how much this has been an agonizing mental and emotional form of torture more than anything for us—i.e., if we’ve even attempted to articulate this to them.
When we often hear the term torture, we immediately begin to think of it only in its physical capacity, never in its mental and emotional dimensions. But I would argue and I’m sure that others would agree—that it’s the mental and emotional ones, which leaves the deepest and long-lasting scars.
I think now more than ever, though, we need the general public to understand as vicariously as possible what it has been like for us under these conditions mentally and emotionally. I’m not one to believe that you have to actually endure years on a supermax unit to understand me and what I’ve been through. But I do believe one has to “vicariously” experience my plight at least, in order to understand why mental and emotional dimensions of torture can not be overlooked and undervalued as they normally have been.
“Speak Out and Say No More!!”
Texas, June, 2013
I open this with great anger, depression, sadness and heartsickness for what our world has and is becoming! Reading the Revolutionary Worker [now Revolution newspaper, eds.] about the horrific things that are taking place has given me the motivation to speak out and become a part of your struggle and make it my struggle as well! I have been incarcerated for 12 years since I was 15 years old, I am now 27 and have been in Administrative Seg for about 7 ½ years and I live in a very dark and lonely world physically trapped in a cell for 23-24 hours a day where only My Mind Remains Free! I can see my life from the height of another dimension so take a moment to glimpse the world through my eyes for there are no words to explain my true feelings and emotions about what I see and read is going on in our world today!
On numerous occasions I have been subjected to and witnessed other inmates subjected to cruel and unusual treatment by the guards namely being starved, retaliated against, having 4 or 5 guards go into a cell with one inmate and beat him up! There is a click of 5 guards here where I am at that run into one inmates cell and beat them up behind a nurse but it’s mostly done to psych patients who are heavily medicated and can’t defend themselves! We are human beings with rights and this must stop but it takes more than just a few to stand up and make a change, we have to unitize and come together as one! I feel the pain of those incarcerated everywhere for I am enduring it too!
Just like in other states the texas prison system is messed up and way over crowded as well as the county jails! Will I forget about all I’ve endured once I obtain my freedom? Hell No! It will forever remain with me and I will make it part of my business to help in the struggle to make a change and get those still incarcerated rights respected!
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