SECTION NINE
sm
COLUMN
FIFTY-FOUR, DECEMBER 1, 2000
(Copyright © 2000 Al Aronowitz)
STOP THE PRESSES! I WANT
TO GET OFF
or
WEBS, WASPS AND WHIPLASH WHILE CRUISING THE O-ZONE
PART 6: PRISONS
AND PRISONS, MY DAUGHTERS AND SONS
Penal
Digest International.
The PDI. A newspaper with two purposes: to
Over
twenty years have passed since the idea for Penal Digest International
began to take shape. I was a prisoner in the federal penitentiary at
Leavenworth, Kansas, at the time. You've heard of Leavenworth---one of the
end-of-the-line prisons where feds, and even the state prisons, send their "bad
boys." At that time the federal prison at Marion, Illinois, was being
Stepping
into that prison was reminiscent of the opening paragraph of A
I
was a first-timer, a fast learner, and, in many respects, I was lucky.
So
what was a first-timer---a non-violent first-timer---doing behind the walls at
Leavenworth with guys who had averaged five previous incarcerations for very violent crimes? It's a long story.
I've never told it before. But the memories of that period are clear. My
thoughts frequently turn to the injustices that surrounded me then. I
internalize them. Sometimes, when I am alone, maybe sitting on the patio late at
night, I doze off. I awake suddenly, look up, and everything seems new. Fresh.
The shadows on the trees are a deeper, richer, more visible green. The air is
clear. The sound of the insects is sharper, crisper, vibrating. The sound waves
can be felt-almost seen. In the slam, one afternoon. Very hot, the last week of
July. I'm in the shade, in a slight breeze. Half asleep, I find my eyes skimming
along the ground, moving fast, observing, soaring over the factories, cell
houses, walls. Constantly turning back in. Lightning-like through clouds and
around corners. Observing. Even the shades of gray are a
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