In the last issue, we made note of the abusive treatment of some political prisoners in the days and weeks following September 11, such as the solitary confinement and isolation from legal and community support that many experienced. We cited an article in the Progressive magazine by Anne-Marie Cusac, an article we also copied and sent to several prisoners. In reply, a thoughtful, detailed letter from a friend and long-time prisoner offered this caution: that highlighting the particular maltreatment of U.S. "political" prisoners may reveal an attitude of elite exceptionalism, by slighting the wholesale abuse of human rights and dignity that is inevitable in the most socially entrenched and expansive prison system in human history, that of the United States.

Our correspondent cited prison policy, legal precedents and many anecdotes to demonstrate that "administrative detention," the "special administrative measures" of isolation with no visits, no correspondence or legal phone calls, etc., and denials of medication during these "changes in status" are commonplace. They seem as arbitrary for thousands of other prisoners as they do for the political prisoner.

There really is nothing exceptional in the abuses suffered by political prisoners. We're aware that many political prisoners are insulated from abuse to some degree by their education, self-advocacy skills, notoriety, and the presence of at least minimal outside personal support.

Because such mistreatment is so common for many prisoners, we are usually restrained when writing about police and prison abuses of nuclear resisters and opponents of war. Most of these resisters have chosen to face off with the state for reasons of conscience, and understand that they are opening themselves to prosecution and other abuses that accompany the loss of liberty in police custody or prison. The role of the Nuclear Resister is to draw attention to the fact of their imprisonment, and encourage readers to support the prisoners by writing them letters and in any way the prisoners may request.

We hope that by publicly supporting the anti-nuclear and anti-war prisoners, an understanding of prison conditions and empathy with one prisoner can lead to learning more about the experience of all prisoners. This knowledge can help illuminate the crimes of imprisonment and the necessity of finding alternatives to incarceration in this country.

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Abuse has only increased since September 11 for the hundreds of "terrorist suspects" held in Cuba and INS detainees being denied bail and contact with potential outside support in the United States. People throughout the world have joined the chorus protesting these detentions. In Canada, a three-day "Walk for Canada's Disappeared" ended on January 15, the birthday of freedom-seeker Martin Luther King, Jr., at the constituency office door of Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan. The door was slammed shut on 15 people who walked the last few of the 23-mile trek. Their demand for information about perhaps hundreds of additional immigrants detained in Canada in the aftermath of September 11 went unanswered that day, and again when they walked for Canada's disappeared on Valentine's Day, February 14 (St. Valentine being the patron saint of prisoners). While the government is mum, media reports indicate about three dozen people remain in custody related to the terrorist threats.

In Baltimore, peace activists requested a meeting in late January with head of the local Immigration and Naturalization Service office, and asked for the list of prisoners being held on visa violations. They showed up outside the local INS office a few days later for street theater on the subject and dialogue, but dialogue was thwarted when security threatened the group with arrest if they did not leave immediately.