Iraqi-US Prisons

For prisoner family members and activists, the situation
at Abu Ghraib is hauntingly familiar. My son is in
prison ... six years on an offense that seems so obscure
and hugely unrelated to the physical abuse and constant
mental torture he consistently endures (in varyng
degrees) at the hands of ignorant, ill-trained and/or
sadistic guards.

In New Mexico, the Department of Correction periodically
runs TV spots inviting applicants to "join the team."
The ad illustrates clearly what happens in prisons,
since it features a "take down" complete with dogs,
fully armored officers wielding batons, stun guns and
other tortuous apparatus. The spot concludes with
requirements for the job: a GED, valid driver’s license,
and a phone number. There’s no mention of needing an
address, a place to live, so prison guards can
ostensibly be itinerants who live in their cars ... a
modern-day version of bounty hunters.

How abd why this abuse is such a shock to the American
people is the curious point. It happens here every day
... prison rape is a given. "Booty bandits" - known
prisoner predators - are cultivated by prison guards in
order to "tame" younger prisoners with "attitude" or to
extract information and develop a snitch system. Prison
authorities most often cast a blind eye to such abuse,
especially if they are provided with information which
might pre-empt future problems. In addition, the rise
of privatization has further exacerbated prison abuse,
since oversight of private prisons is scant. That is
not to say that state and federal facilities are much
more concerned. Most allegations of abuse are
invalidated as the product of prisoners who are "liars"
anyway.

Three years ago, at a federal lock-up in Milan, NM
(Cibola County) run by CCA, approximately 800 prisoners
refused to go back into the prison and engaged in a day-
long sit-in following their recreation period. By mid-
night, the prison authorities used dogs and tear gas to
force them back inside so that the community would "feel
safe" again. These prisoners had issues - complaints
which never saw the light of day. Most were immigrants
and many, we believe, were held without the benefit of
legal counsel or family knowledge. I organized a
demonstration with a couple dozen people. We carried 10
foot banners with our (organization’s) phone number and
mailing address. We were close enough to the facility
to see hands waving, and people writing down the
information. We never got one phone call or one piece
of mail from that facility. When we asked about issues
and problems, the facility management said that there
had been some "food issues" which had been corrected.

The point is that prisons are the darkest, most hidden
corners of American life. Once you’ve been inside the
walls, you lose sight of hope and of the remotest
connection to the "American Dream." Life in our culture
has become a nightmare and the Iraqi debacle makes that
crystal clear. It’s about time the American public
relinquishes the privilege of naiveté that characterizes
our national ideology.

Tilda Sosaya
Albuquerque, NM