Lockup In NYCAbu Ghraib It Wasn't. But It Was Dismal.
by Missy Comley Beattie
Lockup isn’t supposed to be fun, but we are innocent until proven guilty. Right?
(snip)
We four “dangerous-to-society” women were driven to a police station where we were photographed and fingerprinted. The walls and floor of our cell were decorated with feces, blood, and urine. The bathroom was also filthy.
(snip)
Breakfast is supposed to be served between four and five AM. At 1:30 AM, an officer yelled, “Wake up.” She told us to come out into the hall where Frosted Flakes and milk were distributed. We ate this in the cell. At some point, we heard the same, “Wake up.” This time we were told to put the pads on the benches so that the floor could be mopped. The mop was dirty and the disinfectant hardly masked the odor of the room. By morning, 20 women were in the cell. The roaches moved too fast to be counted. Four women were asleep on one “mattress.”
We have all listened to the Iraqi women tell of the destruction of their culture, their country, and the human loss in Iraq. The inmates lodged with us are defined by their own dejection.
Most of the officers were kind. A couple, though, seemed to be getting off on the power thing.
The four of us are lucky. We knew we had lawyers working for our release. Most of our fellow “guests” are the marginalized. Some were young. Many looked much older than their ages. A few could barely lift their heads off the floor and struggled to go into the hallways when commanded.
One young woman was arrested for “borrowing” money from her employer to pay her tuition. She has one more semester of college and has worked to make sure her sisters could also get an education. Her employer was sympathetic but wants her prosecuted.
Three Guatemalan women were brought in. Medea speaks Spanish and asked why they were arrested. One, the mother of the other two, said that they were selling food without a permit. Her two-year-old son was with them as they attempted to make a living. He was taken to foster care, and when his father went to claim him, the child couldn’t be released. The father didn’t have proper identification.
Another woman was arrested for shoplifting. She told me she’s been a heroin addict since the age of 11. She said she learned to count as a young child when her mother, also an addict, had her fill bags with drugs to sell. This woman was articulate and funny, but her life was shaped by a mother who she said didn’t care. After she told me this, she corrected her words. “Maybe she cared, but she’s a drug addict.”
Our country under the Bush Doctrine is assuring that the poor and middle class are increasingly without good choices. Programs to help these people are being cut because a staggering amount of money is financing an illegal war and occupation.
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Missy Beattie lives in New York City. She's written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. An outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, she has participated in many peace marches, including the Cindy Sheehan rally in DC. She completed a novel last year.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0309-21.htm
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