OUTSIDE AGITATOR "Only Justice can stop a curse." —Alice Walker, In Search of MyMother's Garden

"It is a living tomb forthose imprisoned there..." Greetings! —ACLU This is the first newsletter of the National Campaign to Abolish the Lexing National Advisory Board ton women's Control Unit. The Control Unit is the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' attempt to 'deprogram' AMI Al-Jundi, political prisoners and prisoners of war by using psychological torture methods, Attica Rebellion Organizing Cte. these methods include sensory deprivation, isolation and mind control tech- niques which have been developed inWest Germany and Ireland. The conditions Ellen Barry,Attorney at the underground prison at Lexington led the ACLU to describe it as a'living Daniel Berrigan, Peace Activist tomb\ devoid of color, any personal effects, and little natural lighting. The women Stephen Bingham, Attorney are subjected to 24-hour surveillance by guards and video monitors. They have no open interaction with each other or with prison officials, and they have no privacy. Rita D. Brown, In July 1987 various individuals, churches, political organizations, and legal Former Political Prisoner, professionals from around the country began meeting in order to coordinate the Lesbian Rights Activist work toshut down the Control Unit. We present educationals, slide shows/videos Prof. , MIT, circulate petitions and letters, send groups to investigate the conditions at Lexing' Peace Activist ton, fundraise and much more. Dave Dellinger, Peace Activist As we became more and more involved in shutting down the Women's Congressman Ron Dellums Control Unit, we realized that the concept of 'control unit' reaches beyond the basement at Lexington. For instance, the men at Marion, Illinois, have been under Peggy Halsey, 23-hour lockdown for nearly four years, and political prisoners in other prisons General Board of Global Ministries, and jails are often kept in isolation. United Methodist Church We have received letters and support from people all across the United Julia Matsui-Estrella, Dir., States and Europe. This newsletter and future issues will keep our supporters up to Pacific American Center date on the conditions at Lexington, Marion, and Marianna, and provide informa forTheologyand Strategies tion about other political prisoners in the U.S. prison system. Ifyou are interested June Jordan, Poet in helping with this work or making a donation, please contact The National Campaign to Abolish the Lexington Women's Control Unit at (415) 561-9055 or Out Harold Leventhal, Music Producer of Control Committee to Shut Down the Lexington Control Unit at (415) 647-6695. Chokwe Lumumba, Attorney, Chairman, New Afrikan Marianna Control Unit Peoples Organization The Bureau ofPrisons (BOP) is nearing completion ofMarianna, afederal correctional institution (FCI) for men in rural Florida. One of the buildings has Elizabeth McAJister, Peace Activist been designated as awomen's control unit which will house approximately 120 Prof. Margarita Melville, prisoners, and will operate as alevel 4and 5(high security) institution, according to U.C. Berkeley Michael Quinlan, director of BOP. Quinlan also stated that the control unit at Margaret Randall, Author Lexington will be closed once Marianna is operating. The political prisoners at Ron Sable, M.D., GayActivist Lexington believe that Marianna will be a larger version of the control unit in Kentucky. Sonia Sanchez, Poet Physically, thenew prison isself-contained. 'Self-contained' means that the Morton Sobell, women prisoners will never leave the building. The women's building is enclosed Former Political Prisoner in its own fence within thelarger fenced-in compound of themen's FCI. This will Piri Thomas, Poet greatly limit the women's ability to have any real physical recreation. The exact date for the opening of Marianna has not been disclosed. Corey Weinstein, M.D. Jon Wildes, Prisoner Rights Advocate No^nf,.Campa,gn t0 Ab0,,sh the Lexington Women's Control Unit Prof. Gilda Zwerman, 294 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11201 (718) 624-0800 SUNY Old Westbury | Chicago: Box 295, 2520 N. Lincoln, Chicago, IL 60614 (312) 278-6706 San Francisco: 354318th St. #17, S.F., CA 94110 (415) 561-9055 Puerto Rican Legisla INSIDE LEXINGTON The Suit tors Condemn the Lex This civil action is brought on behalf Imagine a world without color, with ington Control Unit of Silvia Baraldini, Sylvia Brown and Susan out fresh air, without sunlight. I couldn't, Rosenberg, currently confined with two other and I didn't. Two women legislators in Puerto Rico women (, Prisoner of War. Then I went to visit Silvia Baraldini at and Debra Brown) in the Federal Bureau of initiated a bill before both houses of the Lexington High Security Unit. Each morn Prisons' female high security unit, located at ing for four days I waited for 'passage': two Legislature, condemning the Lexington the Federal Correctional Institution in Lex barbed cyclone fences, two thick doors, and Control Unit and calling for its immediate closure and the release of the women to gen ington, Kentucky. one golden arch allowed me to enter 'the The transfer of the prisoners to the tomb/ Several video cameras and metal eral population. In what promises to be a unit, the conditions of the unit, and the detectors later, down the steps... But wha,t if major embarrassment for the U.S. govern ment, all three major parties supported this treatment of the women prisoners arc I had a metal plate or steel pins inside me inhuman and degrading, and in violation of holding something together? No Entry? And bill in the Puerto Rican House of Represen the Constitution and interna yet the basement dungeon is "wheel chair tatives. This unusual unanimity among the tional law. All the women in the unit arc accessible." Puerto Rican Independence Party, the Statehood Party, and the Popular Demo suffering psychologically and physically, as a So new, so shiny, so sterile and mono- direct consequence of their isolated con tonous, so beige, so spic'n'span with that cratic Party, is likely to galvanize other mobilizations on the island. finement in this underground tomb. Clorox-clean smell slightly hidden by the The trial begins June 2, 1988 in stale air. Hospital—mental hospital—I The bill denouncing Lexing Washington, D.C. The Bureau of Prison:- thought, and not very prison-looking. It ton has so far passed the House of the Puerto tried to win a change of location for the trial feels like a cross between a mental hospital Rican Legislature. and a prison. from Washington, D.C. to Lexington, Ken tucky, but this was denied. This isn't too bad, Silvia has on black tennis shoes and a... I caught myself before they trapped me. Whose standards am IJ Social Workers Protest judging this place by? Theirs—and it doesn't * In Puerto Rico: work. Lower the standard to sub-human, The Control Unit sub-ground, sub-zero and sure, this is fine. On June 12,Jan Susler of the People's Because it is that bad. There is nothing much Law Office and Dr. Emmanuel Rosenberg, The National Association of Social to do. Boredom and wandering around and father of political prisoner Susan Rosen Workers has 115,000 membersand 55chapters around is life in Lexington. berg, will addressa full session of the Puerto throughout the U.S., Europe, and Puerto The women are strong and living. Rican Bar Association on the struggle to Rico. The NASW has mobilized to shut the From day 1 to day 4 I felt changes in Silvia's close the Control Unit. Dr. Corey Weinstein Control Unit on March 30, 1988. The Asso voice and mood and persona. She was lifting from the Lexington National Advisory Board ciation sent a statement to Bureau of Prisons herself out of a daze, or fog. We laughed, and will also address a number of meetings of Director Quinlan: I could really see her eyes. Her spirit is well. Puerto Rican psychologists who are mobiliz Although she is being psychologically messed ing against the psychological torture occur "The cruel conditions under which with, she is maintaining her inner spirit and ring in Lexington. Susler, Rosenberg and these women are being held violate accept strength. Weinstein also have a busy schedule of press able standards for human detention. There appearances on the island. I won't forget *the tomb'—the world is ample documentation that physical and without air, light, color. The world of emo psychological symptoms by the women are tionless faces guarding and keeping these At the United Nations. the direct results ofthe human rights abuses women locked up like laboratory animals. I Representatives of the Puerto Rican towhich they have been subjected, and that won't forget that it's not working. .. independence movement will present the their physical and psychological conditions case of Lexington as one of the issues at the have deteriorated to the point of danger." hearings of the Decolonization Committee of the U.N. on August 16 through 18. Each year, a main focus of the proceedings is the status of Puerto Rico as a U.S. colony. American Public On Friday, August 12,a major playon the life of Alejandrina Torres will be per Health Association formed in New York. On August 15, all Puerto Rican independence organizations in and Lexington Alejandrina Torres and Daughters Honored. New York will be leading a march on the In late May, Josefina Rodriguez U.N. During the entire month of August a The American Public Health Asso ciation is composed of 55,000 public health accepted awards on behalf of Alejandrina major exhibit of art by Puerto Ricans, Torres and her two daughters, given by the including many political prisonersand POWs, professional and community health leaders. graduating law class of Queens College in will be on display at the main gallery of the At the request of the APHA president. Dr. .New York. Balus Walker, the executive board held an United Nations. urgent discussion on the Lexington Control Unit. The APHA has written a letter of protest to the warden at Lexington, and committed itself to participating in a National Meeting delegation to the Control Unit. The National Campaign to Abolish the Lexington Women's Control Unit will meet again in San Francisco on Saturday, June 18. For further information,

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Msrt) oITfor tJEBJillEL SEVEN INDICTED FOR courtroom, (plexiglass "CONSPIRACY TO RESIST" between the defendants and the spectators), denial of On May 11, 1988, the access to legal counsel, Meese/Reagan administration handcuffing and leg shackling released a grand jury whenever out of their cells indictment against Laura (including legal meetings), Whitehorn, Linda Evans, denial of access of the co- Marilyn Buck, Tim Blunk, Alan defendants to one another, 23 Berkman and Elizabeth Duke. 1/2 hour lock down, no fresh air, etc.. Susan Rosenberg, The indictment charged the after enduring 20 months of seven with having engaged in psychological experimentation activities, "... to influence, at the Lexington Control change and protest policies Unit, and Tim Blunk just and practices of the U.S. ... moved from the infamous through the use of violent and Marion Penitentiary, have illegal means." The specific both noted that the acts included a number of conditions in the D.C. jail, political bombings supporting (where the 6 are currently the liberation struggles of held), are worse. the people of Puerto Rico, South Africa, Central America The six North American and Palestine; and protesting political prisoners each have racism in the U.S. The a long history of association bombing sites included three with movements for military bases in Washington, international social justice. D.C., the Capitol Building The U.S. government is (after the U.S. invasion of attempting to criminalize Grenada), the South African their efforts (dubbing them Consulate in N.Y., the Israeli terrorists) and is striking Aircraft Industries Bldg. in out against them to make an N.Y., F.B.I, offices in Staten example to the rest of the Island, and the Patrolmen's movement; to scare us from Benevolent Association in N.Y. continuing to resist, to (after the racist murder of dictate the way we choose to Eleanor Bumpurs by N.Y. police resist, to divide us, and to while evicting her from her justify the infiltration of home.) No person was injured our movement by intelligence as a result of any of the agencies. All of our bombings. progressive forces will be disabled unless we resist Six of the seven, (Duke these government tactics by remains uncaptured), were in supporting political Federal Custody at the time of prisoners and prisoners of the indictment, most of them war. already serving excessively All six plead not guilty long terms, (over 40 years) on to any crime when arraigned prior convictions stemming on May 25, 1988 and are from political acts. The currently trying to form a proceedings have begun in an legal team. Write them at: atmosphere of hysteria created D.C. Detention Center by the government, including 1901 "D" Street, S.E. the use of a partitioned Washington, D.C, 20003 MORE ON THE LAW SUIT

After three days of hearings the decision in Baraldini v Meese, et. al., is now under submission. Due to her current, but temporary, location in Washington, D.C, Susan Rosenberg was able to testify at the trial. Apparently the judge responded very favorably to the prisoners' claims, but his ultimate decision remains to be heard. During the course of the trial one spectator was dragged out into the hall and brutally beaten by U.S. marshals for refusing to stand up when the judge entered the courtroom. A friend who went to check on him was also beaten. Both men were arrested for assaulting a federal officer. They are both involved in the peace movement and letters of support to them may be directed to: Jonah House 1933 Park Ave. Baltimore, Md. 21217