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From West by Northwest.org
Voices of Peace
Peg Morton's Letters from Prison: Work, Babies and Conditions
By Peg Morton
May 7, 2004
April 26
Federal Prison Camp Dublin
Margaret M. Morton
Reg. No. 92102-020
5675 8th St. Camp Parks
Dublin, CA. 94568
Peg's letter #6. Monday: Information and thoughts.
(1) Many of the 2 million inmates in prison around the country are designated felons. In many states, felons never again have the right to vote. This is a significant population being denied the democratic right to vote.
(2) Here at Camp Dublin, there are no, or few, accredited college courses offered. There are courses in accounting and business, and several growth courses. A GED course is required for all inmates who have not completed high school or a GED program. And there is an intensive drug program, and women come from a fairly wide geographical area to enter it. Their time in prison is reduced by participation. But there are others with high school degrees are intelligent and do hot qualify for or need the drug program. Most, if they are in good health, work an 8-hour day. But they may still have energy and time on their hands. Many smoke, walk the track, crochet, do hair-styling on each other, read or engage in their recreational activities, boredom. Some would love to begin or continue college courses.
My understanding is that one can enter correspondence courses, but they are expensive (for example, $200 - $300 for a course). If we want inmates to be rehabilitated and better able to make it in the outside world when they are released, the Bureau of Prisons would do well, at the very least, to make comprehensive Associate of Arts programs available to all prisoners.
(3) This is the area where I have acquired the least specific information. The pay for prison jobs is unbelievably low, even taking into account that we are being housed, fed and guarded. 12¢ - 40¢ an hour is unacceptable. Many women have high fines, and a portion of their wages is garnished to pay on the fines. Many have outside sources for help to help them with prison expenses, but many do not. Certain clothing that provides warmth and comfort after working hours (sweat suits, baseball caps, tennis shoes…), snacks, stamps, envelopes, cosmetic and other personal items must be bought in the commissary. Telephone calls must be paid for. Those without oputside help are often in a bind, isolated from distant families. This can be a major stress on certain inmates beyond the given stress of being in prison. There is the potential for depression or various kinds of acting out. What would be an appropriate pay-scale? I don’t know!
So – enough. I’m thinking about the election campaigns happening in Eugene. I hope they are going well!
Love,
Peg
May 1
Federal Prison Camp Dublin
Margaret M. Morton
Reg. No. 92102-020
5675 8th St. Camp Parks
Dublin, CA. 94568
Peg’s letter #7 (?) (I’ve lost track.)
Well, it’s been quite a week! Having been A&O (Admission and Entry) for three weeks, we have been through medical, had a (worthless) all-day orientation and been assigned our jobs. Low and behold, I was assigned to “Landscaping.” My friends, in fact all the women here, seemed to have learned about my assignment. “You have been assigned to landscaping?!” I wondered how I could handle an 8-hour day of working, raking, clipping. . . Anxiety hit briefly, but I am truly being held by all of you, by so many others, by the Spirit flowing through you and filling me. My philosophy before coming in was to live in, enjoy and handle each moment as it passes. That is working here.
The first day came (Thursday). We met Mr. West, who oversees all the maintenance work that is done in the camp. He seems young. He is notorious for his “mouth.” He is highly competent and has high standards. He jokes with women in a demeaning way, but he does show respect for those who work hard and are competent. He loves to catch someone not doing something or not knowing something, and make them do pushups. It’s kind of a joke. Leisa proudly did a whole bunch. (She was 2 minutes late.)
But first we met Iyabo, an elegant woman with a turban who comes from Nigeria and is politically knowledgeable and congenial. She is the “Clerk” for landscaping. Under her direction, we watched some required OSHA videos that had little to do with landscaping. Then she toured us around the entire area – we saw the outside of the County Jail (in the distance), the FCI women’s prison across the street, UNICOR, (the prison factory), the edge of the army base (Camp Parks), the garage, the warehouse, the greenhouse, the supplies. We watched the women being checked in, going off with sledge-hammers, paint and rakes. We watched our friend doing welding, saw another who is a garage mechanic.
I expressed as best I could my needs and limitations and was assigned to “the Park.” It has trees, grass, picnic tables and ash trays. I work with Donna, who is taking it upon herself to not let me do more than I can handle.
On the first day, I tried to clip, squatting to do so. Swept the sidewalk, picked up cigarette butts. My back became painful, tears welled up. I walked back to Iyabo and told her I could not do this job. She was sympathetic and flexible. My tears were gone before Mr. West turned up, thank goodness! He was also flexible, and said that as long as I could do something productive, he would keep me. Donna advised that I hose the flowers and empty cigarette containers. So yesterday, that is what I did, taking frequent walks around the outside of the park, to “pick up trash,” and stretch my back, sneaking up to my bed to be down for 15 minutes (not allowed). It all worked.
I now have an “8-hour” a day job with wages. My pay will be $5.25, no, not per hour. That will be for one month. My total. Same with Leisa, who mended two fences and is now painting them, and will be weeding and gardening in a large area.
So I am out of the bathroom, into the camp mainstream, enjoying my interactions with so many more women. They call me the “Park Ranger.” The Latina women have discovered that I “speak Spanish,” and are thrilled.
Yesterday (Friday) evening, Marilyn, who is what amounts to a political prisoner from Guam (more about that another time) turned up with a ukelele and drafted me to sing with a small group next week across the street in the women’s prison, in a program for volunteers. I ended up rehearsing with the choir also, under the leadership of a talented African-American inmate. I am blessed. . .
Meanwhile, I’m receiving 22 – 26 letters and cards a day. Thanks! But I can’t spend too much time replying, good friends.
Goodbye until next week. Today is May Day, solidarity for workers around the world. Yes!
--Peg
May 2
Federal Prison Camp Dublin
Margaret M. Morton
Reg. No. 92102-020
5675 8th St. Camp Parks
Dublin, CA. 94568
Peg’s Letter #8, Sunday: The Other Side of the Coin”
Yesterday I wrote of my transition into a landscaping job, of the flecxibility of my supervisors and their willingness to adjust to my needs.
Now I need to share some disturbing things I saw and heard during the first three work days.
(1) The woman I work with was given the task of spraying weeds one day. Apparently, they no longer have masks for these workers. (I don’t know exactly what is required.) She returned, having sprayed Round-up for about 3 hours, and complained of a head-ache.
(2) Several women returned from the county jail, where they had spent the day manually breaking down cement that had been covering a leaking gas line, using sledge hammers. They said that mechanical equipment is available to do this job, but the supervisor preferred to use the women workers. One or two men offered to help them –maybe they actually did help them. The women’s (and my) supervisor wanted the women to do the work, not the men, and said so loudly.
(3) Our supervisor makes many “joking” threats. Some can perhaps be accepted as jokes. However, I was told that he infomed one woman that if she did not do the work he was requiring her to do “he would have her dragged through the streets naked, attached to his truck.” (Not a direct quote.)
Peg
May 2
Peg’s Letter #9, Sunday,“Women and Babies”
There are 13 of us in bunks in our room in C-4 Upper. Three of them are women with babies. The oldest is 14 months old. His mother’s husband committed credit card theft with a credit card with her name on it but the wrong social security number. A Moroccan, he is in Morocco and she is in jail for two months.
Another’s baby was one month old a month ago when she entered prison. Her family lives just over the hill in Oakland. So far they have not received acceptance for visitation, and she has not been able to see and hold her baby.
The third delivered her baby a few weeks ago while already incarcerated. The infant is very premature and is still in the hospital. She was permitted to be with the baby for only three days, and then was returned to county jail where she was incarcerated. She says members of her family are “seeing to” the baby.
What does this kind of separation do to a child? How strongly can these mothers bond with their children after many months of separation? How is our society affected?
Peg
Federal Prison Camp Dublin
Margaret M. Morton
Reg. No. 92102-020
5675 8th St. Camp Parks
Dublin, CA. 94568
Peg’s letter #10: “County Jails”
Most of the women I have met here have been incarcerated for months in county jails. They do not have the money to put up cash bonds, or perhaps they are considered security risks. The descriptions of these jails make me wonder if they might be a primary target for reform.
In the Sacramento County Jail, people are locked into their cells, each with two people and a toilet, for 23 hours a day. The cells surround a common room that has a t.v. and a very unprivate shower. Each inmate gets one hour out there. Most inmates never go outside at all. Some apparently go occasionally to a courtyard where they can see the sky. The food is atrocious, mostly sweet and starch, and, without exercise, inmates gain huge amounts of weight.
Our own SOA Watchers who have spent time in county jails describe similar conditions, as do women here who have been in other jails. And there are often 1,000 inmates in a given county jail.
My own perception had been that one was kept in such a jail for a very limited period of time. Not so.
Peg
Visit Peg Morton's writings at West By Northwest.org:
Peg Morton's Letters from Prison: We Are Many, We Are One and
A Cross and a Fence: The question is "How do we live our beliefs?" A Quaker grandmother has an answer and follow the links.
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