-from Leavenworth

(reprinted from Sept. 2001 Harvest of Justice, newsletter of the St. Francis Catholic Worker Community, Columbia, Missouri)

by Steve Jacobs

Well, my serial crime spree at Ft. Benning has come to a temporary halt while I take a mandatory sabbatical here at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas for a year, courtesy of my Uncle Sam...

Any anxiety I had about my safety has dissipated, like hairdos in a rain storm. We are Blacks, whites, Hispanics and Native Americans, though not in the proportions reflective of our total population. There is a noticeable lack of tension here. I noticed right away that the Black guys sit together on one side of the cafeteria and the whites tend to sit on the other. But when I sit in the Black section, nobody cares and when a Black guy sits among whites, no fuss is made. I know there is a lot of gang activity in other prisons but not here that I've noticed. The men are respectful of one another. Most aggression seems to be verbal teasing and good-natured put downs of one another. Any real aggression would result in a stay at the main prison where men can be locked down 24-7.

Here in the work camp the guards are not armed and a gate in the surrounding fence appears to be always open. The inmates here do many jobs in buildings surrounding the main prison. They are mechanics, plumbers, janitors, cooks, groundskeepers, painters, etc.

There is also a Fortune 500 company called Unicor that pays $40 to $60 a month to prisoners assigned there. They frequently contract out to defense industries making equipment for the military. Here at Leavenworth, Unicor makes parachutes and furniture which I'm told goes to military bases in Germany. It's a pretty sweet deal for Unicor to have more than 2 million captive workers in U.S. prisons to choose from and whom they don't have to pay a living wage or benefits. It's no wonder the Chinese government shrugs off human rights charges of slave labor in their prisons.

I decided before my arrival here that I wasn't going to be a wage slave for Unicor to make money off of. I'll do any other work than that, but I'm still waiting for my work assignment. After all, if I didn't have principles about the exploitation of others I wouldn't be here.

In manuals used to train Latino soldiers in surveillance at Ft. Benning, the infiltration of labor organizations or any other group working for economic justice and living wages and benefits for the workers' families. In Colombia, hundreds of labor organizers are assassinated every year, according to human rights groups like Amnesty International. So there are always plenty of half starved workers to become wage slaves for U.S. and other international corporations.

It ain't easy being on top of the food chain and having a conscience.

*******

It took me five days before I met an overtly racist person. I set my supper tray opposite an inmate at a table which seats four. But I had to move the napkin dispenser to the center of the table. I said, "Hey" (as in "How ya doing?"). Then I went to fill my glass before returning. When I returned, he informed me that he placed the napkins there "because I don't want any Blacks sitting where I sit. I don't like black people."

"What a provincial attitude in this day and age," I thought to myself. At least he didn't use the N-word.

"How come?" I asked.

"I just don't like rats sitting next to me," he said. "I been in prison most of my life and I just don't trust 'em. I wish they never sent me here. I'd rather be back in the prison I came from."

Not wishing to take advantage of my privileged status as a member of the Caucasian persuasion, I was tempted to take another seat. But I realized that sitting across from a racist was, indeed, no privilege, so I remained where I was.

"Seems to me there are good and bad in all races," I said.

Since he was done eating, he stood to leave and said, "I just don't want 'em around me."

I've certainly been screwed over by white folks more than people of color in my life. (I'm specifically thinking of Judge Faircloth who sentenced me to a year for two petty offenses.) White folks typically have more positions of power over others and thus more chances to use it oppressively. We can assume this man experienced rigidly imposed racial divisions in other prisons, probably by gangs.

It's one thing to be imprisoned by someone else. It's a whole 'nuther deal to imprison yourself behind racial ignorance.

[Steve Jacobs is serving a 12 month sentence for repeated trespass at the School of the Americas, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, at Ft. Benning, Georgia.]