by Kathy Kelly
June 4, 2004

I’ve always liked the restful quiet of an empty classroom. Maybe this is why the large room where we wait to start mealtime duties, here at Pekin Federal Prison, feels comfortably familiar. During breaks, in the dining area, I’ve spent many hours reading, writing, studying Arabic, and staring out the window.

Today, looking out the window, I watched Kim LaGore crossing the compound, flanked by Ruth and Malika.

Yesterday, when I left the dish room, I sensed something was radically wrong. Clusters of women were gathered, many already puffy-eyed and tearful. “It’s Kim,” I was told. “Her other son just died.”

On March 21st, 2004, Kim Lagore’s younger son, Dustin, was killed in Iraq. He was a 19-year-old US soldier who had tried his best to stay out of combat. 72 days later, Sean, Kim’s older son, age 29, died from complications following back surgery. Ruth and Malika, who also lost children while in prison, have been like guardian angels for Kim, holding and helping her through this wretched grief.

Every person in the prison camp yearns to spin a protective cocoon around her. The authorities couldn’t do much. The system traps their compassion too. They allowed Kim extra phone calls and submitted a furlough request. I feel sure that they each wished for swift procedures to re-sentence Kim to home confinement during the remaining three months of her sentence. Who wouldn’t want to respond humanely to a woman who has lost both of her children within three months time while forcibly separated from her relatives and her hometown community? But the system’s wheels turn slowly, very slowly.

by Kathy Kelly

On June 4, 2004, lawyers for Voices in the Wilderness (VitW) will argue, in federal court, that a judge should allow further “discovery” to help establish why VitW travelers believed they had a duty to challenge economic sanctions against Iraq. The U.S. government charges us with the “crime” of delivering donated medicines to Iraq, without authorization. The U.S. Treasury Department is attempting to collect $20,000 from VitW for violation of U.S. sanctions against Iraq, sanctions which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children in Iraq and effectively destroyed the civilian infrastructure. VitW is countersuing for reparations for the catastrophic effect of UN/U.S.-led economic sanctions.

From 1996-2003, our resolve, not bound by unjust UN/U.S.-led economic sanctions, deepened each time we personally witnessed innocent Iraqis being brutally and lethally punished by shortages of food and medicines, deteriorating infrastructure, contaminated water and a disastrous breakdown in their health care systems.

Prosecuting lawyers will argue that our case should be resolved swiftly since we have already acknowledged delivering medicines to Iraq. Our attorney, Bill Quigley, professor of law at Loyola University, New Orleans, who traveled to Iraq prior to the U.S. war, counters, “The U.S. government has no business punishing people for bringing medicine to Iraq, while its sanctions and occupation cause the daily deaths of Americans and Iraqis and continue to create a desperate need for medicine and basic goods for many Iraqis. This case is about justice, this hearing is an attempt to further criminalize dissent, and we will continue our civil resistance and actions regardless of the outcome of this case.”

by Kathy Kelly
May 1, 2004

It’s Saturday morning, May 1, 2004, and women here at Pekin Federal Prison Camp who watched CNN news feel indignant about the way Iraqi prisoners have been treated by US military guards. “Did you see those pictures?” Ruth asked. What in the world is going on over there?”

The news coverage they watched had photo-ops from last year’s May Day, when President George Bush triumphantly boarded a USS Carrier ship to declare “Mission Accomplished,” juxtaposed with the recently released ghastly photos of US military members apparently enjoying degradation and torture of Iraqi prisoners.

“Where did May Day traditions come from?” I later asked aloud, in the prison library. The librarian, Lori, quickly found an Encyclopedia item detailing various May Day traditions. Several of us laughed about one which holds that the dew on the grass, on May 1, holds special qualities for restoring youth. Authorities would be mighty surprised if we all started rolling on the grass. “It would be better to celebrate morning dew than to boast about dropping all those bombs over Iraq,” said Carol. “Looks like people there are going to hate us so much, they’d rather kill us than look at us.”

By Kathy Kelly

April 28, 2004

Phil Berrigan, the renowned peace activist who died in December 2002, always urged people to talk back to the TV screen while the news was being spun by politicians and commentators. Phil would have approved of women who watch CNN early morning news here at the Pekin Federal Prison Camp. A few mornings ago, Soledad O’Brien interviewed John McCain about his recommendations regarding US troops presence in Iraq. McCain lamented the shortage of funding to pay for the plans he envisioned and then recommended that congress make courageous choices to cut back spending. Immediately, women prisoners pointed to themselves and shouted to McCain, “We’ll help you save money. Send us home!”

Each of the women are “first time offenders” with mandatory minimum sentences of five or more years for non-violent drug related crimes. With no possibility of parole and very few means of earning good time, the only way for them to achieve some kind of sentence reduction is to be “a snitch.”

It’s hard to think of a more difficult setting in which to try and organize legislative activism. Disappointment and feelings of isolation have been reinforced by the letdowns that come with “chain gang rumors” which turn out to be completely false. Yet an extremely capable and efficient team of women prisoners here has repeatedly managed to generate many hundreds of letters to relatives and friends, written by prisoners, in support of various prison reform bills that have actually been introduced into the US Congress.

Two weeks ago, Connie and Ruth, two “long termers” who’ve been who’ve been part of a core group of organizers here, came into the Nebraska unit with a manila packet carrying the text of House Resolution 4036. This resolution, introduced by Danny Davis, D- IL, on March 25, 2004, proposes to revive the system of parole for federal inmates. Before the weekend was over, the “team” had put in place a plan to copy and distribute 600 sample letters which prisoners could send to their family members and friends, urging support for the bill.

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.