The following is the first letter we received from Kathy Kelly who is in prison in Pekin, IL. Also, we have posted a photo gallery of Kathy Kelly’s Send Off

April 7th

Dear friends,

Where to start? Blue recycling bins, of course! Within a month of recycling at Pekin FPC, $5,000 was earned (recompense for prisoners: free Hershey Bars). I’m 40 pages into Poisonwood Bible (completely enjoyable) and am diffidently eyeing the electric typewriter. I’ll buy my ribbon soon. And stamps! Kindly, ever so kindly, women have “set me me up” with coffee, creamer, pens, cups — the basics. Once again, I’m in a world of imprisoned beauty, this time without the fences. As before, I’m meeting women who are vulnerable, hurt, anxious and brave. I’m particularly impressed by the strength required as women adjust to more than a decade of confinement, or more than a year, for that matter. “We babysit ourselves here,” said several women, matter-of-factly. “Why can’t I do that in my own home where I could care for my children?” asked one young mother, “It makes no sense to spend years here.” Now I see why Bonnie Urfer (of Nukewatch), after her release from a minimum security prison said, “It’s like a nursing home.” The “patients” aren’t bedridden. Rather, the residents are their own “attendants” in an insanely organized and bland setting, but the place carries an aura of sadness, similar to what I always feel entering a nursing home.

By Dan Winters
Voices in the Wilderness
April 20, 2004

The Denver Post editorial of April 1 called for the continued occupation of Iraq. I disagree. The time to call for the US to lead in rebuilding is long since past. The best that we can do is to assist a UN effort (which may now be too late) to help rebuild what two wars and thirteen years of sanctions have destroyed.

On the same day your editorial appeared my son arrived in Baghdad. My son, who lives in Hawaii, was activated with his Army reserve unit and will serve for 18 months (12 or more in Iraq). He leaves behind his wife and their 3 daughters who are 12, 7 and 5.

It is heartwarming to read Post articles about our men and women and the sacrifices they are making and the loved ones they left behind. When I say these men and women symbolize what America stands for the Bush administration nods their head in agreement. When I ask why our sons and daughters are bleeding and dying for a war built on fabrications - that same administration accuses me of being un-American and unpatriotic. President Bush needs to understand that those of us who strongly disagree with his war on Iraq also love our flag.

Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear-whistle blower, will be released from Ashkelon Prison in Israel on Wednesday, April 21, after serving an 18 year prison term. For background information on this remarkable advocate for peace and disarmament, please see www.vanunu.com.

Kathy Kelly, from her prison cell in Pekin, Illinois, joins many in the world community in celebrating Mordechai’s release. Kathy writes:

“Thinking of Sam Day and his determination, after becoming blind, to help Mordechai Vanunu freely see the light of day, I think an hour must have passed while I read and re-read this passage:

Thus with the year
Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine,
But clouds instead and ever during dark
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off, and, for the book of knowledge fair,
Presented with a universal blank
Of Nature’s work, to me expunged and raised.
And wisdom, at one Entrance, quite shut out.
John Milton, Paradise Lost–Book III

Sam might have thought Milton was a mightily mistaken fellow — misogynist, bigotry-prone, depicts untamed wilderness as the haunt for devils — yet Sam would, I think, have nodded thoughtfully at the above passage. Milton tucks it into the beginning of Book III.

This I know! Sam dove into the campaign to free Mordechai Vanunu and Sam would revel in the group assembling to welcome Mordechai out of prison. If there is an email means to wish Ken, Cynthia, Scott Schaeffer Duffy, Audrey Stewart, Grace Ritter and other friends heading to Ashkelon my very best, please do! Thanks! –Kathy”

Also, Amnesty International published a press release yesterday which urged the Israeli authorities not to impose any restrictions or conditions on the former nuclear technician upon his release. Read more.

At about 11:30 am Israeli time, the five members of the Catholic Worker Peace Team (Ken Hannaford-Ricardi, Brenna Cussen, Lisa Guido, Grace Ritter, & Scott Schaeffer-Duffy) joined hundreds of Vanunu supporters outside the gate of the Ashkelon Prison as Mordechai Vanunu emerged from 18 years in jail. Longtime Voices in the Wilderness activist Ken Hannaford-Ricardi sent the following description:

Roughly two hours ago, after vigiling for three hours, we witnessed Mordecahi Vanunu’s release from Ashkelon Prison. While we were at Ashkelon yesterday (Tuesday), counter demonstrators were few. Today, they were many and their aggression (some would say violence) escalated as the morning progressed.

About 150 of us stood behind police lines holding banners and signs. During the vigil, eighteen doves were released, one for each year of Vanunu’s imprisonment.

As the counter demonstrators increased in number, so did their aggression. People stood inches from our faces, yelling and shaking their fists. They hurled abuse and raw eggs at the pro Vanunu vigil which included Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, two Episcopal bishops, two members of the British parliament, a member of the Israeli Knesset and activists from around the world. Nick Eoloff, Vanunu’s adopted father, was hit by an egg. Some of the peace signs were torn as was one banner, but no one was injured. Police had to wedge their way between our two groups, and they gradually moved the protestors across the street and into the prison driveway. Press numbered in the hundreds.

by Kathy Kelly

Several times, during weekday evenings, students pursuing careers as “correction officers” have peered through the window of our rooms, they tour the compound, visiting various units. Their teacher, an Assistant Warden at Pekin FCI (Federal Corrections Institute), guides them.

I wonder what students think and say after completing the tour.

I’m surprised, myself, at how manageable the room I share with 9 other prisoners seems to be, just now. Sunlight floods the 18′ x 18′ space which contains 6 bunk beds, one single bed, 8 lockers, a wooden table and 4 plastic chairs. It could pass for a dorm at an inexpensive youth hostel. Catholic Worker houses of hospitality across the country similarly try to utilize space to shelter as many people as possible. With warmer weather here, some women have replaced olive colored wool blankets with white bedspreads. This brightens the room. Today is Sunday. Soft snores sound comforting to me, as several women, who worked all week, most earning 12 cents per hour, are “sleeping in” and sleeping soundly.