We arrived at five in the for simple words, her concentra ti on evening, travelling in slides, ideas trail into a foggy silence. jump suits and slippers in 'The worst thing for me about Lexing­ an eight-seater plane with the mar­ ton was the implied sex ual threat ­ shals. We drove right up to the men walking in on us in our cells, "entrance of the unit and there were whether we were undressed or not, on hundreds of prisoners' faces at the the toilet or not, the continuous strip windows watching. Prisoners had searches. When you're in that situation actually been assigned to build the there's a very thin line between what is High Security Unit and it was com­ assault and what is not and that was mon knowledge that I was going to played on ve ry conscio usly by them. be moved there. There were 1,600 They knew that with o ur associa ti on prisoners and the guards took the with the women's movement we found occasion to lock down the entire it particula rl y offensive. They played it prison. One woman screamed out, for what it was worth.' 'Hello Susan, we know it's you.' I Susan Rosenberg, Alejandrina Torres started jumping up and down and and Silvia Baraldini would have screamed, 'Don't let them bury us remained in Lexington to se rve their down there.' Someone else screamed, entire sentences had it not been for 'We won't.' We knew it was going to Susan's parents, Bell a and .Manny be underground. It's one thing to Rosenberg, a nd their friends - Holl y­ know and read, it's another thing to wood producers once on the blacklist, see and experience. Left to right: Silvia Baraldini, Susan Rosenberg and Alejandrina Torres in the art dealers, theatre critics, jo urnali sts. " We stood at the electronically High Security Unit at Lexington Prison. Its isolation and sensory deprivation were ' You have to show that these people controlled metal gate under the eye patterned on Stammheim, where the Baader-Meinhof Gang was held were not in jail beca use they were o ut of one of 11 surveillance cameras. for money or because · they were drug An unidentified man had ordered us She turns up the coll ar or her pale blue crimes a nd were judged to be the poten­ addicts; in fact that's the thing they placed in restraints while we walked pri son uni form. 'Susan always loved to tial subjects of rescue attempts. fought,' says Ma nny Rosenberg, a from one end of the basement to have style: her mother had said. The effects of small-group isola ti on retired dentist who practised in El Ba r­ the other. The lights were neon, flu- I nside Susan counsels Aids patients. within a control unit are well-docu­ rio, the Puerto Rica n nei ghbourhood of orescent, burning and bright and She looks as if she has Aids herself. mented: Rosenberg, Torres and Ba ra l­ Ha rl em. The Rosenbergs maintain that everything was snow-white - walls, Her mother says she cannot eat the dini suffered the expected pathologica l the women held in Lexington (and floors, ceilings. There was no sound prison food . A lawyer says she has disorders, which included loss of con­ many others) a re political prisoners. except the humming of the lights anorcxia; refusing food is her o nl y centrati on, headaches, hallucinati ons, The Lexington control unit was c10scd and nothing stirred in the air. Ale- means of control in a situa tion which emotional disturbance, dizziness a nd down because of the intervention of jandrina said, 'It's a white tomb, a has stripped her of a ll power. She dis­ digestive problems. Aleja ndrina Torres Amnesty International a nd the embar­ white sepulchre.' I nodded and whis- erectl y raises a li st - the old salute. had a heart attack and Susan Rosen­ rassment to the American government ered '~s Sta111mheim.'-' ______For nearly two years, between 1986 berg lost a dramatic amount of we ight. of tbe pri son being cited by Mikhail "For nearly three months we were and 1988, she a nd two other women, 'She was so emaciated when she came Gorbachov, at the 1988 Geneva Sum­ the only prisoners there. We were Aleja ndrina Torres and Silvia Baraldini, o ut of Lexi ngton she looked as if she'd mit, as an example of human rights informed that we were permanently were held in the Hi gh Security Unit at come out of Dachau,' her mother says. abuses in the United States. designated to the High Security Unit, Lexington Federal Prison, Kentucky. The effect on Silvia Baraldini, now In thc Forties, Bell a Roscnberg was expected to serve our entire sen- The HS U never ho used more than held in the New York Correcti onal blackli sted from her job as it story edi­ tences of 35 and 58 years there. seven women during the time it was Institute, was even more serious. For tor for Embassy Pictures (t he lirst inde­ We were on constant display. It got open. Its philosophy was that of small li ve months she asked for a medical pendent studio). The Rosenbergs' so bad that officers would bring their group isola ti on, In the pattern of examination; when granted, it revealed friends are the old Left, men a nd wives and children to tour the unit. A Stammheim, the West German prison cancer of the uterus. ' I had my opera­ women who survived some form .01' group of high school students came. in whi ch the Baader-Meinhof Gang was ti on inside the prison because, accord­ McCarthyism. Silvia came from a We made a sign that read, 'Free all incarcerated a nd where some of them ing to them, r was too dangerous to be wealthy, politically liberal Itali a n family political prisoners in US prisons - committed suicide. taken to a hospital outside,' she says. with a hi story of resistance to Fascism. stop human rights abuses' and we In the underground unit at Lexington There was no pathology la b. They She moved when she was 15 to New would display it whenever we heard the wa ll s, ceiling and Ooor were painted removed my uterus but beca use they York, where her father, who was a spe­ a tour coming. One day a man gloss white to stimulate se nsory depri­ couldn't take any slides they had to cialist in aviation a nd foreign trade, toured the unit. He had an Irish va ti on. There was 24-hour video sur­ come back six days later, after the dis­ worked for the ltalian Embassy. During accent. As he came on vei ll ance, including a camera trained on eased uterus had been sent to the Mayo the Sixties, she a nd Susan were acti ve in the cell block he said, 'So the showers, whi ch had no curtains. No Clinic for a nalys is, a nd remove every­ the a nti-war movement. The Seventies this is the dead wing.' natural li ght or ve ntila ti on ever found thing else - my ovari es, tubcs a nd was the time of COINTELPRO, the SUSAN ROSENBERG its way in thro ugh the heavy screens lymph nodes. It's a hard experience for FBI's notorious counter-intelligence over the windows which prevented pris­ all women, but it's a very hard experi­ programme designed to inliltrate a nd In America, it is easier for journalists to oners from seeing o utside. Whenever ence to go thro ugh alone. There was no destroy the Bl ack Pa nthers and other gel into prisons than into factories. the inmates left the o utdoor exercise one apart from a nurse who came in milita nt organi sati ons. ' I was conscio us Arter an I D check, a stroll through the yard they were strip-searched. For a one ni ght a nd asked me if I wanted to that the American government would Fri skem metal detector, a quick pat three-month period they were woken ta lk about it. The surgeon's attitude stop at nothing to defeat its oppositi on, sea rch, yo u a re in . The DC County Jail , every ho ur. All their activities, includ­ was that I was a certain age a nd I was however small, and that this pattern a kind of public ho usi ng project for ing their conversa ti ons a nd their moods going to be in prison for the rest of my was built in ,' Silvia Ba raldini says. 'At the black population of Wa hington, we re monitored a nd noted. Initia ll y, no life a nd he couldn't understand why I some point I realised I wasn't interested resembles, from the o utside, the corpo­ books other than approved ones, was so upset. Something that is inex tri­ in changing a tiny bit here and a tiny rate headquarters of a building society, mainly li ght weight novels, we re allowed ca bl y ti ed to your identity as a woman bit there, but the whole thing.' set in la ndscaped greenery next to a and no visits of a ny kind, including is taken away from you, and in my cir­ Susan a nd Silvia met and became hospital. It is a jail run by blacks for those from lawyers, were permitted. cumstance I could never assess how friends, working on campaigns like that blacks - some guards have relatives on The ra ti onale of the control unit, much the stress of the situation contrib­ of the Pa nther 2 1, a case whi ch went on the other side of the bars. Susan Rosen­ according to the Federal Bureau of uted to it, so that made prison doubly for a year before being thrown o ut of berg, now 35, one of a handful of white Prisons, was th at it was designed for assaulti ve as far as I was concerned.' court. Both were associated with the prisoners, a few months o ut of hand­ inma tes who represented a hi gh security Aged beyond her 42 years, grey­ politics of the May 19 Communist cuffs and leg irons, is brought up to the ri sk . Baraldini, Rosenberg a nd Torres haired, but with nails ja unty a nd deli­ Organisation, a loose coalition or those room normally used for att orney visits. were there for politically motiva ted ant with red polish, she often gropes acti vists still around after the I> - '. '-, -* -,

I HAVE ALWAYS WORKED" THROUGH THE CHURCH. MY HUSBAND AND I FOUNDED A PUERTO RICAN HIGH SCHOOL AND CULTURAL CENTRE. THE GOVERNMENT TRIED TO DESTROY IT

ALEIANDRINA TORRES, 35 YEARS FOR SEDITIOUS CONSPIRACY

47 dissipation of the anti-war movement in the a rts pages of some magazines, no when the boys ca me home from Vi et­ American newspaper o r television net­ na m. Li z Fink , Silvia's lawyer, who was work has covered the story. Do nna brought up o n the Left and began her Ferrato, the stills photographer for ca ree r defending th e Attica prison riot­ Through fh e Wire (and photographer ers, knew Silvia a nd Susan during their for this a rticle) took her pictures to Li/e acti vist period. ' I hated them. They and Time. Both refused to assign a we re ve ry arrogant. I to ld them, " You writer to the story. aren't goin g to like prison.'" None of the three women has a ny Silvia was eventua ll y indicted, in immediate hope of freedom, although 1982, under RI CO, the anti-racketeer­ the Italia n government is lobbying for ing laws designed to put the fin ger o n Si lvia Baraldini to be transferred to a n hi gh-ra nking members of the Ma fi a Jt·alian prison and the magazine Oggi who were insul a ted from criminal li abil­ has taken up her case. 'Don't portray it y beca use they didn't themselves com­ us as victims, please: Alej andrina said . mit criminal acts. Under RI CO, if a With the weight of a popular national­ cri me exists and yo u are a member of a ist movement behind her, she can be gro up tha t has committed si mila r acts, the most optimistic. ' I have great expec­ you can be indictcd for th at act. Sil via ta ti ons. Things a re happening all over was convictcd of driving the back-up the world and the Puerto Rica n people car used to sprin g fr om jail Assata will not be left behind. As long as there ShakuL a Bl ack Panthcr leader found is a glimmer of hope it can move guilty (after nine dismissed trials and I was conscious that the American government would stop at mo untains. I lost 30 po unds in that acq uittals) of being an accomplice to nothing to defeat its "opposition, however small place but there was no way they were the murder of a state trooper during a SILVIA BARALDINI, 43 YEARS FOR DRIVING A BACK·UP CAR going to destroy me. I wouldn't give shoot-o ut on the New Jersey turnpike them the sati sfacti on.' in 1973. Also taken into account was ~~ Perhaps it was the lack of any legi ti ­ her possible pa rticipa ti on in the Brinks mate agenda for left-wing politics in robbery of 1982, whi ch was claimed by a campaign to release prisoners in US shows a nd sitcoms, they felt brain-dead. America that had driven Susan a nd Sil­ the Weather Undergro und, and lesser jails who suppo rted the Puerto Ri can ' Peo ple laugh at us when we say it was via to a rmed struggle. I put it to Susan offences such as a d ri ve to Connecti cut independence movement. According to li ke a concentration camp,' Silvia says, tha t while many people in Britain to rob a n a rm o ured car which never the government she was a member of ' but the fact tha t we lost the ability to would passionatcly support her general turned up. She was give n 43 years. the Fuerza Armadas de Liberacion concentrate and therefore to read was a views o n racism a nd imperia li sm, few At around the same time, after National (FALN), a n underground major blow. It became symbolic. You would go alo ng with the strategy of 'wa tching people die in my a rms' a t a group that has claimed responsibility can o nl y give so much a ttention to a small , clandestine groups operating in drug clinic in the Bro nx where she for a numbcr of bombings in the certa in thing befo re your mind sta rts the na me of the peopl e but without mass worked as a n acupuncturist, Susan United States. In 1983 she was a rrested wa ndering. Instead of thinking in para­ support. At best, she a nd her comrades Rosenberg join ed a clandestine o rgani­ o n charges of possessing weapons a nd graphs, you start thinking in sentences were roma ntic a nd naive . She nodd._e_d_.___ _ sa li on, li vi ng underground for two explosives and seditio us conspiracy - and yo u approach your life in sen­ 'Hindsight is a blessing, but it is also years before surfacin g in 1986 at a New ' to use force to oppose the lawful tences. It's ve ry unnerving.' a curse,' she replied . ' When yo u spend Jersey roadside in possession of explo­ a uthori ty of the US over Puerto Ri co'. There has been almost no coverage years alone, you can re-evalu ate almost sives a nd false id entifica tion. Having She was convicted in 1985 a nd sen­ of the Lex in gton unit in the Ameri can excessively yo ur life a nd your choices. advised her to read Th e God That tenced to 35 years. She is now 50. press. Thro ugh Bell a a nd Ma nny The Left in this country as a whole Failed. the j ud ge sentenced her to 58 Amnesty I nterna ti onal's report said Rosenberg's contacts, sympa theti c jour­ - a nd myself included - has never years wi th a recommenda tion of no th at conditions a t Lex in gto n were na li sts in network television spent a been able to come up with a strategy parole. Her subsequcnt appeal for sen­ 'deliberately a nd gra tuito usly offensive' ycar lo bbyi ng for permission to film that can win the hea rts a nd minds of tence reduction was refu cd by Federal and the trea tment of the three women insid c thc prison. The sto ry, which was other Americans to pl ay a role in the Judge Mary Trump Barry, property was 'cruel, inhumane a nd degrading'. to have been aired o n the top-rated movement for social justice. So in tha t magnate Donald Trump's sister. Amnesty argues, a nd the Federal Barbara Walters' 20/20 news pro­ context, I think my stra tegy a nd tacti cs Both Sil via a nd Susan insisted o n Bureau of Prisons accepts, that the gramme, was dropped the ni ght before have been just as in effcctual, and tha t's conducting tri als they deemed political, women were transferred to Lexingto n tra nsmi ssion. Other filmed interviews a major problem for a ll of us because re fu ing to recognise the court or the because of their political beliefs. The were never shown. In 1988, the Nelli what we've got now is a country tha t is legal system. According to Susan's women assert that they were told they York Times repo rted on a back page either completely de-pofiticised or lawyer, Mary O' Mel ve ny, the judge would never leave the unit unless they the decisio n of the federal district judge alm ost brain-dead . We a ll have a prob­ responded by banning fr o m the pro­ reno unced their politics a nd their ' past to close the unit: 'Consigning anyone to lem, in prison o r no t. The counter­ ceed in gs words and phrases lik e 'black associati o ns' - in o ther words, they a hi gh-security unit for past politieal insurgency role the US government liberatio n struggle' o r ' US policy would have to coll a bo rate with the associa ti o ns they will never shed unless pl ayed in Nicaragua was completely against Nicaragua'. FBI. The sentences themselves seem to fo rced to reno unce them is a da ngero us successful a nd the movement I am a Alcjandrina T orres, now held in characterise these women as political missio n for this country's prison sys­ part of couldn't stop tha t. But neither prison in San Francisco, was bo rn into prisoners, their suppo rters argue. Ma ry tem,' he said . It was the first official did all the lobbying of Congress.' a poor family in San Lo renzo, Puerto O' Melveny cites the compa rable case of doubt cast on the US government's On the Trump Shuttle from New Ri co. At 25 she ma rried Reverend Jose Deni s Melvassey, who stockpiled ex pl o­ position that it holds no political pris­ York to Washington to interview Susan Torres, an activis t a nd the only Puerto sives bought from the proceeds of bank oners. This ruling was cha ll enged by Rosenberg, I had what J thought was a Rica n to take part in the Se lm a civil robberi es in a New York a partment. the Bureau of Prisons a nd overturned. piece of great good luck. Just before the rights ma rch. ' I have a lways worked The explosives were used for bombing Independent film-maker Nina Rosen­ plane left La Guardia, Jesse Jackson through the church. My husband and I three abo rtio n clinics. He was give n blum , who had worked on the 20/20 a nd a n aide took their seats. I passed participated together in witnessing to seven years. Do n Bl ack, the Ku Klux story, acquired the foo tage sho t insid e him a note o utlining the sto ry I was th e community no t just wi thin the fo ur Kl an Grand Wizard, who set sail with Lexi ngto n a nd decided to make a fea­ doing o n Lexington a nd aski ng for a walls they call a church. When we real­ an arsenal a nd gang of mercena ri es to ture- length documentary which was comment. Jackson sta red o ut of the ised tha t there was vcry little the munic­ in vade Dominica, was sentenced to 10 eventuall y funded by C hannel Four. window at the New Jersey natlands. As ipal structurc did fo r o ur people, we years in prison a nd served two. The liberal esta bli shment has been sup­ we approached Washington, circling founded a Puerto Rica n hi gh scl1 e101 The na ture of the inca rcerati o n 111 portive of Through fh e Wire, which will over the White Ho use, Congress, the and cultural centre. The government Lexi ngton seemed designed to destroy be shown on PBS in June. But while Pentagon a nd the Vietnam War Memo­ tried to destroy it but it still stands the women's a bility to chall enge the Burt Lancaster, Oliver Stone and ri al, there was still no comment. 0 because the community supports it.' cond iti o ns of their imprisonment. Pro­ Darryl Ha nnah are sponsoring an LA 'Through fh e Wire' will be shown on Her political involve ment began with vided with a television diet o f game screenin g and there has been coverage Chonnel4 0/1 Monday 21 May af 10.40pm