Prisoner families have no "normal" life together-no sharing of family time or daily experiences,no prayers or mutual support during difficult times,no running errands,no shopping for gifts for the kids,no taking care of the family pets,no smiles,hugs, kisses or even holding hands,no waking up together on Christmas morning.Guess what the prison employees gave the prisoners and families during the holidays? NO MAIL!

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Background: Gary White was a county commissioner in Jefferson County, Alabama. Good friends with Les Siegelman, he introduced Les's brother, [former] Alabama Governor Don Siegelman to Richard Scrushy, a local Republican businessman. Because of this, White became inextricably intertwined with Siegelman, who was one of the biggest targets of the Rove-directed, heavily politicized Department of Justice [DOJ].

Scrushy and Siegelman were later indicted and convicted on charges stemming from that relationship. According to affidavits provided by Gary [and Judy, who was also in the room] White was asked to perjure himself before a Grand Jury in order to make the case against Siegelman and Scrushy. White refused and the very next day, the DOJ started delivering subpoenas to build a case against him. White is serving ten years and has been moved most recently to Federal Prison in Arkansas. [BOP is Bureau of Prisons.]

This is installment #27. [Links* to entire series at end of article.]

My guest today is Judy White, whose husband is currently serving time in Forrest City FCI [Federal Correction Institution]. Welcome back to OpEdNews, Judy. 

JB: What's new with you and Gary?

JW: Thank you, Joan.

As I'm sure you understand, the past several weeks since our last update have been very difficult and sad, with Christmas, Gary's birthday and the new year having passed.  But the BOPers at Forrest City have been up to their usual meanness and dirty tricks and even managed to raise the bar for the season.

JB: Give us an example, please. 

JW: Mail, for instance.  Prisoners and their families have no "normal" life together - no normal sharing of family time or daily experiences, no prayers or mutual support during difficult times, no watching the news or a television show together, no running errands, no shopping for gifts for the kids, no taking care of the family pets, no daily "good mornings" or "good nights", no smiles, hugs, kisses or even holding hands, no waking up together on Christmas morning and no blowing out birthday candles together.  IF they decide to allow communications at all and if the prisoner's family has money to pay for the privilege, what "family" means to the BOP is less than 10 minutes a day of telephone time, a very limited and expensive version of "e-mail", and mail - the United States Postal Service.  (For what it's worth, in my opinion, the rest of the "free" country owes the continuing existence of the USPS to prisoners and their families, those of us who are compelled to use the USPS, given no other options to maintain family relationships.)  So, want to guess what the Forrest City prison employees gave the prisoners and their families during the holidays, and, in our case, Gary's birthday?  NO MAIL!

JB: Tell us more, Judy.

JW: Thinking back over the past year, I remember "the-sky-is-falling" cries from government employees because of sequestration and in relation to the government shutdown, with grave predictions of dire consequences, yet what I remember most clearly was the punishment of the American people, through government shutdowns of free monuments.  With federal prisons exempt and unaffected by the shutdown, and with all that long past before December, prison employees should have been on their jobs, actually DOING their jobs, but it doesn't work that way.  You see, it's about overtime.  Apparently, prison employees want and expect to be paid for just showing up, but for them to actually fulfill the responsibilities of their jobs, they want and expect overtime.  And when better to make overtime demands than to shut down mail to and from prisoners during Christmas, when the prison employees likely need extra cash for their own needs?

We know the "rules" and we plan ahead.  In addition to Christmas and birthday cards and letters sent separately, I had sent Gary a USPS Priority Mail envelope with books and magazines, cards, and some printouts.  The separate cards and letters have never been delivered to Gary, nor has the Priority Mail envelope that USPS records show was delivered to the prison on December 19th.  Our daughter also sent a gift of books that tracking documentation proves was delivered to the prison on December 26th, yet her gift has never been delivered to Gary either, nor have the cards and letters she and others have sent for his birthday and Christmas.  The BOP's written regulations require that mail received at prisons must be delivered to the prisoner to whom it is addressed within 24 hours of the prison's receipt of it, with books and published materials required to be delivered within 48 hours, but like all their rules and federal laws, prison employees and administrations simply ignore them, to the detriment of prisoners and their families.  Prison employees are lazy and don't want to work, nor do they want to be bothered with any requirements, and we have previously established that prison employees freely steal and/or throw away mail sent to Gary.  Remember their motto:  WE DON'T CARE.  And even though we report these violations through the BOP hierarchy, there is no response and nothing changes.  Or more accurately, nothing improves.

There have been "changes", though.  "Retaliation" is a "change", but the specifics are part and parcel of the pattern and practice of abuses we have experienced from the beginning, including the withholding of Gary's prescription medication and termination of communications, with prison employees directly lying to me the weekend before Christmas when I was unable to make the trip because of severe weather, telling me the telephone system was up and working and there was no reason Gary could not have called me, when, in fact, the system was down due to a storm and BOPers were too lazy to reset and get the system back up.  And most recently, Gary's prescription medication was again withheld for over a week as we both begged for it to be given to him.  But we have had one new experience this year:  the prisoners' outgoing mail has been held hostage inside the prison and not taken to the post office so their families and others can receive their mail.

JB: How does this work? 

JW: Gary and the other prisoners must place their outgoing mail in a "mailbox" in the prison.  The BOPers are required to take the mail from the mailbox to the post office daily.  Gary writes to me every day.  Letters replace all "normal" family interactions, so I particularly look forward to receiving those letters, the only tangible thing I can hold that Gary has held and sent me.  Before Christmas, the letters stopped arriving.  In response to inquiries and complaints, BOPers later posted a sign on the mailbox that the lock was broken and mail could not be removed!  As for all the mail in the box?  Too bad!  It was stuck and no prison employee could get it out and free it for its journey to a recipient!  From what Gary said, the lock was just a regular lock that could have easily been removed with tools - maybe bolt cutters?  After the sign was posted, there was some show of trying to unlock the box, with a BOPer showing up and trying various keys, none of which would unlock the lock, so the outgoing mail remained in prison.  The BOPers are single-function and unionized, and undoubtedly the "right" BOPer whose job it would have been to address and resolve the lock problem was not there or was engaged in WE DON'T CARE, as the others engaged in IT'S NOT MY JOB.  Just think about this, Joan.  With hundreds of federal prison employees in place - men and women the government wants to convince the public are highly trained, competent, professional, and there to protect the public safety - not a single one was able to remove a regular lock from the mailbox and rescue the mail.  Gary and I came to refer to this as the prison version of Excalibur and King Arthur, and sure enough, Gary played a part of the King Arthur drama when, at long last, on New Year's Eve, the lock was cut off.  But the story didn't end there.  Once the lock was removed, the BOPer put the lock without a key back on and later had to return to remove it again.  Even so, I still haven't received the mail that was held hostage, and Gary still hasn't received mail and gifts from me and our family and friends.  Gary and I had also wondered whether the incident was connected with our legal efforts, and there were petitions some prisoners were trying to send to elected officials in Washington also in the outgoing mailbox.  

Also before Christmas, the BOPers initiated a new "Prayer Patrol", stopping the prisoners from praying each evening.  (They can't get the lock off the mailbox or reset the telephone system, but they devote time to seek out and stop praying prisoners.)  Everywhere - and I mean everywhere - Gary has been, the prisoners have prayed together, as it is inherent in the exercise of their religious beliefs and practices, but now for the first time ever, at Forrest City the BOPers have banned prayer and even discussions among prisoners that include the mention of God!  The prisoners have been specifically told that they may not pray together or have discussions about God other than in the prison chapel in the presence of the chaplain who must "supervise" any prayers or discussions - think government employee "prayer monitor" and "thought police".  

Again, the complete disregard of the civil rights of the prisoners is blatant, as is the disregard for the spiritual needs and interests of the prisoners.  This ban on prayer is purely abusive.  In practice, if a prisoner or a family member become sick at any time other than when the official government-permitted religious service occurs, that's just too bad, as the prisoners are prohibited from praying for each other, and the chaplain - a highly-paid BOPer with a religious-sounding job title but no apparent concern for the spiritual or other well-being of the prisoners - does not pray or lead prayers for prisoners even in the official services.  When this new policy and prayer patrol began, Gary went to see the chaplain to seek his intervention to allow the prisoners to continue to pray for each other, but the chaplain just shrugged and said no, prisoners can't be allowed to pray.  That doesn't sound like any spiritual leader to me, but it does sound exactly like the endless abusive BOPers we have encountered during the past years.  It is also interesting that the religious practices of other prisoners have not been similarly interfered with.

JB: I very much doubt this is even legal, Judy. 

JW: I'm sure you are right, Joan, but illegality is nothing BOPers blink at, as they just don't care.  Reference their motto:  WE DON'T CARE.

The day before Gary's 67th birthday, after not seeing my husband for two weeks including Christmas, I made the long, 300+mile journey to visit him for his birthday, his fourth birthday in prison.  His first birthday in prison we were in Edgefield, SC and immediately afterwards, I was illegally banned from visiting him for six months.  Just before his second birthday in prison, he had been illegally moved to Atlanta then, on his 65th birthday, he was put in shackles, chained and handcuffed for over 13 hours as he was flown and moved from Atlanta to Oklahoma City.  We were not allowed to even speak to each other that year.  Last year, Gary's 66th birthday and the third in prison, we were in Millington, but right after his birthday last year, he was taken and locked in solitary confinement in Memphis for 28 days with heat and prescription medications withheld, then illegally moved to a higher security prison further from home, and we were prohibited from seeing or speaking with or e-mailing each other for six months.  

Gary's birthdays have become markers of traumatic stress and precursors of unbearable abuse, with the sense of dread at what will be done to us next by the BOPers.  We tried to get past the heaviness and celebrate Gary's birthday, toasting with apple-cranberry juice and with donut sticks from the prison vending machines substituting as Gary's birthday "cake".  Even to be able to spend a few precious hours together meant standing outside waiting and freezing.  It doesn't matter that it is winter, the BOPers will not allow visitors to wear coats or jackets, hats or scarves or gloves.  The cost of seeing my husband in prison for his 67th birthday, aside from the long trip and all that involves, was getting sick, a trip to the doctor, a shot, two prescriptions, and days missed from work, and Gary is sick at the same time, but no medical care or treatment for him.  In fact, his illness is the likely and foreseeable result of being forced to stand outside in the cold and rain for 51 minutes waiting and hoping - to no avail - for medical help.  At Forrest City, they have an inside waiting area for medical services, but the BOPers refuse to allow prisoners to wait in the designated waiting area, and, instead, force them to wait outside, no matter how bad the weather is.  How much sense does that make?  When people are sick, make them wait outside and get sicker if they dare to ask for help?  With both of us sick and trying to recover, I didn't get to see my husband this weekend.

JB: What kind of response do you get to your emails to the BOP higher-ups, Judy. I know that they've not been thrilled with the attentions of OpEdNews [our series, at 27 installments, and counting]. 

JW: The BOP has been less than thrilled and way less than responsive for the most part.  From the Arkansas prison BOPers, there has been dead silence, other than when the Washington office has forced them to respond.  They seem to have adopted the plan that if they ignore everything, it will go away.  The regional office has also ignored all the problems we have brought to their attention.  When I called them most recently about Gary's medication again being withheld, the regional medical BOPer - a woman who identified herself as Jeneenre Ratliff - refused to address the problem, callously telling me two days before Christmas to write her a letter about it while refusing to provide a fax number or e-mail address or allow me to speak with the regional medical employee the Washington office had told me to speak directly with.  With Gary without his prescription medication, she actually told me to write her a letter and mail it.  No concern at all that Gary had been without medication he needs DAILY for over a week, and no concern about the label warnings of the dangers of sudden cessation.  

The Washington office has occasionally responded by e-mail, referring the problems to the prison or regional offices and directing them to respond and copy the Washington office.  Even with the Washington office referring and directing them to respond, the prison and regional office almost never do, and when they do, it is usually a non-response and filled with false statements while completely ignoring the problems with which I am seeking help.  Take the mail, for example.  I have repeatedly sent copies of the Track-and-Confirm Delivery Confirmation for the Priority Mail the prison received for Gary on December 19th, along with photos of some of the contents of the envelope, asking WHERE IS GARY'S MAIL?  

The prison's "executive assistant" sent a non-response last week after being directed by the Washington office to respond, but there was not a single word addressing Gary's withheld mail.  Instead, the response blamed Gary for not having his medication (?) and claimed falsely that a notice had been posted immediately on the mailbox with the broken lock.  All false and clearly intended to divert attention and cover up for the prison employees' wrongdoing, but the question remains:  WHERE IS GARY'S MAIL?  Interfering with, stealing, and delaying the mail are all criminal violations, but, again, BOP employees are an elite group: they violate criminal laws and civil rights every single day, with no accountability.  And what example do they set and what do they demonstrate for people who are in prison for violating laws?  NOT that laws should not be violated, only that the law applies to SOME but not to all of us.  If you are a federal prison employee, you can break all the laws you want and there are no consequences.  

JB: Through all our conversations, we at OpEdNews certainly are learning a lot about how our penal system works, or, should I say, does not work.   

JW: Thank you, Joan. It's clear "justice" is not part of anything we have experienced!

JB: Sadly, I cannot disagree with you, Judy. Thank you for, once again, sharing Gary's story with us. 

***

* Judy White series, in its entirety:

Judy White Fights For Incarcerated Husband's Access to His Prescriptions  October 13, 2010     

The Feds and the Prisoner's Wife - Do Unto Others... as You Please  October 27, 2010

Come and Get It! Prisoners Served Expired Food, "Not for Human Consumption"   November 10, 2010

Judy White's Giving Thanks for Prison Visit: It's All Relative  November 29, 2010      

No Heat in the Cooler: More Tales from Edgefield Federal Prison  December 16, 2010

The Devil's in the Details: More Tales from Edgefield Federal Prison , January 11, 2011

Hello Kitty Mysteriously Disappears from Prisoner's Mail at Edgefield , January 24, 2011

Edgefield Prison's Commitment to "Maintaining Family and Community Ties"?   March 6, 2011  

Winter in July? Trying to Stay Warm in Edgefield Prison   July 6, 2011

Neglect at Edgefield Federal Prison Causes Inmate to Lose Toes  September 27, 2011

Bureau of Prisons "Disappears" Federal Prisoner Just In Time for His Birthday  December 29, 2011

Magic Behind Bars: The Case of the Disappearing 600 Pound Chicken  February 22, 2012

Are Federal Prisons Finding it Hard to Let Go?  April 24, 2012

Happy Father's Day! and the Justice Department's War On Families      June 16, 2012

Federal Prison's "Camp Cupcake" - Putting the Fun[ny] in Dysfunctional  August 14, 2012

Gary White and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week , November 29, 2012

Scrooged! Millington Federal Prison Camp's Version of Christmas Spirit , December 24, 2012

The Bureau of Prisons, The Flood and Your Tax Dollars At Work , January 27, 2013

Revenge of the BoP: OpEdNews Censored in Two Federal Prisons , February 17, 2013

Warning: Incarceration in US Prison May Prove Hazardous to Your Health , February 23, 2013

Battling Injustice: the BOP and Corrupt Judges , June 18, 2013

Ties that Bind: How the BOP Undermines Families, Part One , July 27, 2013

Ties that Bind - How the BOP Undermines Families, Part Two  , July 30, 2013

Anti-Crimson Tide Discrimination? September 15, 2013

Inmates Stick Their Necks Out to Cast Light on Recent Prison Death November 11, 2013

Forrest City FCI: Where Visitors, Civil Rights and Human Dignity Are Unwelcome December 14, 2013

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.