4 OPINION Page 4 Thursday, February 11, 1988 The Michigan Daily 4 -. Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Prisons deny basic rights Vol. XCVIII, No. 92 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Purseli 'S THE U.S. HOUSE of Repr tives rejection of aid to the last week by a narrow marg: 211) was a victory for advo peace and social justice, an nificant defeat for the Rea ministration and their favor rorists, the contras. Ann A Representative in Congres Pursell, should be asham voting in favor of the aid pac Pursell's conduct is especi excusable in light of the rea has offered for his vot Wednesday, the day of the said that his anger over a fli lished by the Latin America darity Committee (LASC)m of the reason for his "yes Intolerance of criticism from group of constituents is a reason to wage war against< nation. The flier in question has1 criticism from other quart cluding the Ann Arbor columnist David Bishop. one, including Bishop, Purs Pursell' s press secretary, leged that anything in the f untrue or inaccurate. It con what appears to be a x newspaper article, from a f newspaper called The Was Herald Tribune. The headlin "Congressman Linked to Torture Ring," and the res article explains why this is an appropriate description contras. Their torture of c has been widely document though their drug-running ceived less attention in the1 also been confirmed by wi who testified before Senatc Kerry's (D-Mass) invest committee. No one can claim that LA falsely attributed its stateme reputable source, in order to priate that source's credibili Washington Herald Tribu never existed. As LAS pointed out, if not for the c prevent all but the very ric owning newspapers in our , they could publish a daily n vote inexcusable resenta- per that would report the facts in contras this matter. in (219- Perhaps the critics do not like the cates of angle of article - that Pursell's ac- d a sig- tions on behalf of the contras were gan ad- made to look like a scandal. But this rite ter- was exactly the point: the use of our Arbor's tax dollars to fund murder and tor- s, Carl ture is a scandal, and it ought to be led for reported. -kage. Critics of the tactic are caught in a ially in- logical contradiction. In a society sons he where it would perfectly legitimate e. O n for a wealthy individual to buy a vote, he daily newspaper and have- it print an ier pub- article about Pursell's connections an Soli- to the contras, how can it be con- xas part sidered "misleading" or "deceptive" " vote, to invent one? The validity of the a a local flier must be judged on the accuracy terrible of its contents which have not been another disputed. After the vote, Pursell defended brought his vote for contra aid with the ar- ers, in- gument that it was necessary "to News' preserve his Republican Party But n influence in shaping U.S. policy." Bell, and (Ann Arbor News 2/6/88) This has al- seems unbelievably callous - that her was thousands of Nicaraguans should isists of die in order to preserve Pursell's Keroxed influence within his party. ictitious Fortunately, Pursell's vote was hington not enough to tip the balance in fa- ne reads vor of aid to the contras. The politi- Drug- cal impact of this defeat for Reagan t of the and the contras will be significant, indeed in spite of the fact that House ofnte Democrats are already drawing up iof the their own disgraceful "humanitarian ivilians aid" package. The reason is that the ed. Al- contras are much more in need of press, i political support and legitimacy than presss money. That legitimacy was re- or John soundingly denied when Reagan, or John who began by asking for $270 mil- igating lion, and engaged in the most intensive personal lobbying of SC has "swing votes," ended up with ,nts to a nothing. appro- Congressional votes will not cut ity. The off illegal U.S. government support ne has of the contras, as was evident in iC has 1984, when Congress cut off all aid )sts that and the contras received more ch from money than they asked for. But society, they can be politically important, newspa- and hopefully this one will be. By Mary Glover second of a three-part series After suffering through the Detroit House of Corrections (DeHoCo) for over a year, I was transferred to a new women's facility: Huron Valley in Ypsilanti. The physical conditions were improved so much it was like reentering civilization. But the denial of rights and oppression is constant. Women are treated as children and denied the most basic responsibilities. Violence is rare, with the exception of a few fist-fights. Vocational and educational programs were developed as a direct result of the lawsuit, but institutions are slow and resistant to change and this has seri- ously hurt these programs. Serving a life sentence is like being locked in a closet the size of a twin bed. You are forced to be separated from your family, children (who you may lose per- manently) and those you love and are sub- jected to degradation form guards and staff beyond words. Asking a prisoner whether or not they ever "get used to" the peniten- tiary is like asking a victim of th Nazis in Germany during the war if they ever got used to the concentration camps. No lifer ever knows for certain if they will make it out alive, although we all swear we will. you have to hold on to "EVEN THIS TOO SHALL PASS" - or go stark, rav- ing mad. Life for a woman serving "all day and night" is an exhausting search for issues to appeal, for attorneys to represent, for a way out of the nightmare and a means to support oneself until that day arrives. A life sentence is one hell of an ordeal. I am often asked what prison life is "really like." It is maddeningly routine. Prisoners are awakened at 6:30 a.m.. with "lights on" and dress by 7:00 a.m.. with beds made and room straightened. Break- fast follows, which is generally unappetizing and cold. Women are sent to school and on work assignments at 8:30 a.m.. or so, where they remain until 11:30 a.m.. "count." Lunch follows: starchy, cheap, often unidentifiable literally. "Details," or classifications to work and school resume at 1:00 p.m.. and continue through out the afternoon. Dinner begins Mary Glover is currently serving three life sentences in Huron Valley Women's Correctional facility. She is enrolled in the college of LSA and received a Hop- wood award this year for an essay. Along with another woman she gained the right to attend college through a civil rights suit against the State of Michigan. at 4:15 p.m., and another count follows at 5:00 p.m.. Evening hours are generally one's own to use the law library, attend classes, play cards, recreate in the gym in exercise or team sports, socialize with friends. "Lock-up time" is at 10:30 p.m.. and is about the only time there is any quiet as the units have a high noise vol- ume. Religious services are offered on the weekends and provide much needed com- fort and support. I spend my days and nights working full time: studying, read- ing, writing, assisting women with their legal and personal problems. After obtain- ing certification, I became employed by our legal office and work as a paralegal for a non-profit organization of attorneys who help prisoners with all aspects of con- finement, including parental rights and appeal of conviction. Medical and dental care is primitive, and critically inferior to "modern medicine." Correct and proper treatment is rare. There have been over ten deaths of women here due to gross negligence by medical staff and the Deputy Warden recently told the guards at "roll call" they are not to call the clinic for assistance for anyone unless they stop breathing. A woman died a few years ago and was found on the floor after she had knocked for hours, within 24 hours of the time the clinic had run an E.K.G. on her and pronounced her "fine." Another woman gave herself heart massage while suffering a heart attack on the back of the garbage truck while working in the snow. She was in her late 50s, had a long history of chronic heart disease, and had been through five previous heart attacks. Yet the institution classified her to one of the heaviest, dirtiest work details there is. Her own heart massage kept her alive until she was finally admitted into the hospital. She has since undergone triple-bypass surgery and has been successfully paroled. Such is the institution's regard for human life. One March 14, 1987, I watched in horror as a woman died out on the sidewalk on the front of my unit while the first and second shift guards walked by to stare and kept walking. The prisoner suffered a fatal asthma attack. The institution was guilty of criminal negligence, but after an "investigation" no action was taken against them. Those of us who requested an investigation and asked for improved medical care were dealt with severely by the staff, who wished to keep our sister's death quiet. Personally, what is the hardest to endure is what I have coined "stifilization." Basic needs and desires are forced to be "stifled" because to show them results in being thrown into maximum security and pun- ished. The need for sex, for intimacy, for physical contact with another human be- ing must be repressed or the consequences endured if "caught." Everything inside runs on the institution's time clock and is reg- ulated, including the most basic things such as the use fo the bathroom. You are constantly told what to do, where to do it, who you can see, what you can wear, what you will eat, who you can and can't talk to, even where and how you are required to sit. We are even told we must be three feet away form each to her when sitting in the yard. You name it - they will stifle it. You learn to become a doctor of improvi- sation in the "University of Confine- ment." You have to find a way around-un- der-over-beyond the system's incapacitat- ing limits when you are told by the pawns what to do. Survival takes precedence. The weak and the ill suffer the most because they simply cannot cope and become in- fantile. Male guards create constant prob- lems, as they are working inside housing units and in all areas of the prison. They conduct "pat-down" searches of women's bodies routinely. there have been cases where male guards have sexually abused women and the institution covered up their criminal misconduct by denying it ever happened and destroying documentation. Discipline is the hardest to deal with because you are subjected to a system which specializes in "railroading" you during "monkey court hearings." A hear- ing officer once called the disciplinary hearing a monkey court while I was in the middle of one. Segregation in theory is' designed to lock up those who pose a. serious threat to life, property, self, staff, or other inmates, but in reality it is used by the administration to keep the general population submissive and "in line." Serious punishment is inflicted for petty "rules violations." Hearing "rights" are a cruel farce. Fairness is rare. You are guilty; until proven innocent and staff's word is, golden. misconduct sanctions have more to do with how staff feels about you rather than real misconduct. Employees abuse the women more with misconduct reports tan anything else because it so drastically jeopardizes freedom and results -in loss of "good time." In the eyes of th Parole Board write-ups are bad new, and too fre- quently there is "much ado about nothing" when it comes to misconduct in "hearings" here. I spent 7 days in segre- gation in "the hole" vomiting from food poisoning when a guard fed me scrambled eggs laced with lye - knowingly. I was so weak I crawled on my hands and knees to the toilet because I could not stand up. It was January and less than 50 degrees in the cell they threw me into. I had defended myself when a woman swung at me and broke my nose. The guard laughed and told me: "GRIEVE THAT." LETTERS 4 Does Fleming deserve ACLU award? Regressive military spending bankrupts social welfare programs: Bloated budgets L ast week, the Congressional oBudget Office (CBO) reported that the 1989 federal deficit would be much higher than previously antici- pated. Current CBO projections for 1989 are $176 billion - $40 billion over previous estimates and far short of the $136 billion mandated by the Gramm-Rudman deficit re- duction legislation. Astronomical budget deficits have been a regular occurrence under President Reagan, running as high as $230 billion in recent years. While the concept of deficit spend- ing has officially been part of fed- eral fiscal policy since the New Deal, the size of Reagan's deficits has alarmed many economists. In less than five years, Reagan spent more than every president since George Washington combined. Congress must share in some of the blame for runaway budget deficits because it is responsible for deficits have been the president's spending priorities. Since 1981, federal spending to maintain and improve the quality of life for Americans has been slashed. Funds for health care, nutrition, environ- mental protection and education have all been drastically curtailed while the billions of dollars chan- neled into the Pentagon have pur- chased defective weapons systems and $150 screws. To mask the magnitude of the deficit problems, the administration (and at times, Congress) has repeatedly resorted to "smoke and mirrors" including one-time asset sales and overinflated estimates of GNP growth. In his book The Tri- umph of Politics, former budget di- rector David Stockman confessed that the administration knew deficits would soar under the Reagan bud- gets and sought to conceal this fact via use of false statistics or simply To the Daily: Please address the following letter to President Robben Fleming. First of all I wish to con- gratulate you on the civil rights award bestowed upon you in 1970. It is too bad that I was only three years old at the time, otherwise, I might have congratulated you sooner. Since my memory dies not go back that far, perhaps you could refresh it. As a senior at t h i s "progressive" institution, I would like to request that you begin to demonstrate the ideals embodied in your laudatory ci- tation. For example, the open- ing paragraph of this citation claims that you exhibited complete commitment to the protection and enlargement of civil liberties on the University campus, this commitment be- ing demonstrated by your words and deeds. However, when the issue concerning adding "sexual orientation" to the non-discrimination code (Regental Bylaw Section 14.06) arose at this months Regent's meeting, you demon- strated no progressive leader- ship. In fact, quite the opposite occurred. You breathed a sigh of relief when the regents voted to stand by the Presidential Policy of Sexual Orientation of 1984 by claiming that you would have felt uncomfortable enforcing such a policy with- out Regental support. This wishy-washiness does not demonstrate to me such a commitment to civil rights. Mr. Fleming, you cannot rest on your laurels. You must continually reinforce this, commitment to civil rights, and not just remind us of some award you received (and un- doubtedly earned) almost twenty years ago. If I may, President Fleming, I would like to suggest some immediate steps you can take, thereby proving your desire for a freer and more educated uni- versity community. 1) Take a more public stance in support of LaGROC's and other organizations' (UCAR, LSA Student Government, MSA) demand that sexual ori- entation be added to Regental Bylaw Section 14.06 and to the Affirmative Action logo by lobbying for regental support, 2) Present your support to the curriculum committee for the addition of a mandatory class on diversity including discussion of the harmful ef- fects of sexism, racism, and homophobia. LaGroc and other campus minority groups rec- ognize that education is the key to combatting prejudices in this society. A vague "code" threatening students with aca- demic punishment for ideas discouraging any type of non- conformity is not productive. President Fleming, I hope that you do not take this as an attack on your award - it is not. I have faith in the ACLU and at the time, I am sure it was appropriate. However, would you be worthy of that same award, today? -Kent A. Foster February 1 4 Washington Herald-Tribune Servng hefl Mat n Capial THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1988 Congressman Linked to Drug-Torture Ring By MARION DELGADO U.S. Representative Carl Pursell (R- Michigan) hasbeen linked in official docu- merits to a notorious terrorist band operat- ing along the Nicaraguan-Honduran bor- der. This gang of terrorists,frequently re- ferred to as "Contras," has been involved in a series of brutal assaults, directed primar- ily against the civilian population of Nica- ragua. There are thousands of well-documented incidents of rape, murder, and cruel and bizarre tortures that have been attributed to the Contras. Congressional investigating committees have found that they have n- Rag~ed in the transshipment of cocaine to the~ ;.. sa' '" it ir _M'} ' f " '' - t-" MLK critics cynical To the Daily: Too often in our lives we try some excellent, intellectually stimulating speakers during I a