Monday, September 11, 2017

A Fulcrum Known As the Central 5


Hotep,

It was July 19,2017: A little more than 13 months since the telephones were made accessible to the death row population.  

We are currently under investigation based upon the spurious accusations of undue familiarity with the volunteers of our creative writing class and Hidden Voices group.

Notice: I say ‘We’ as in THE CENTRAL 5, Paul Brown, Rodney Taylor, Lyle May, James Thomas, and myself.  I find it ironic that all five of us took part in the groundbreaking performance of the play, ‘SERVING LIFE,' An artful display that made the Central Prison administration appear to be in line with, the evolution of archaic prison policies that discourage staff and volunteers from feeling any humane connection with prisoners.

On July 6, 2017 the prison’s Internal Affairs Division placed us on administrative segregation pending a 15-day investigation.  Our personal property was seized, while we were forced to live within the inhumane conditions of Unit-1, the prison’s housing for solitary confinement.

For 7 days, I had no access to the telephone, stamps, radio, a dictionary, a watch, personal identification card and shower shoes.  The privilege of showers is granted 3 days a week (Mon., Thurs., and Sat.) I didn’t have any shower shoes, so I stood in a medically prescribed foot pan while locked inside of a caged shower.

The privilege of canteen is granted once a week (Fri.).  My identification card was treated as personal property, so I was prohibited from purchasing any shower shoes or stamps.

On day 6, this ordeal called for me to be placed in full restraint (handcuffs, waist chain and shackles) for the sole purpose of sitting before the preliminary disciplinary board.  It took all but 5 minutes for them to tell me that the investigation had been extended from 15 to 45 days.

When I returned to cell BU-102, the walls seemed to have lessened in proximity.  My blood pressure was higher than it had been in years (157/98) and my breathing was choppy throughout the night.  The next day at approximately 5 p.m., I was instructed to get dressed because I was going back to death row population.

Believe it or not, I was mentally prepared to endure this sub-condition of living throughout the summer months and well into the fall season.  I immediately found myself in a state of quandary.  The officer anticipated an upbeat response, but there was none.  I simply told him that if all five of us weren’t returning, then I would refuse to go back to death row population.  We came together.  We would leave together.  Na mean?

So, here we are, THE CENTRAL 5, back in death row population: political prisoners awaiting our fate.  The volunteers who have come to know us as counter-culture beings have had their volunteer status scrutinized by prison officials prior to these recent events.  Yet they continued to come into this prison and help us change the narrative.

If nothing is learned from all of this, one thing is certainly clear: Our humanity is the evolution of the state’s barbarity.

Long live THE CENTRAL 5!!

Always 100,


MannofStat
Copyright © 2017 by Leroy Elwood Mann

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