It’s not just in Iraq
The recently exposed horrors of prisoner abuse in
Iraq shocks people of sound mind. The current US administration has not yet
admitted that we also torture American citizens who are prisoners in equally
illegal and immoral ways within the United States. One example is the
experience briefly described below by a Viet Nam War era conscientious objector
who endured the horrors of the US Federal Prison in Springfield,
Missouri.
....Most of my prison-time was served in
the Federal Prison Hospital at Springfield, Missouri -- in solitary confinement.
The prison authorities explained this was necessary so that I wouldn't corrupt
the rapists, and robbers, and murderers with my beliefs in conscientious
objection and moral obligation. War-resisters were known as troublemakers,
holding group hunger strikes and fasts and protest sit-downs. We were of course
forbidden to do any of those things, or even to discuss our "crime" with each
other.
I was beaten bloody by guards,
placed in cold rooms with no blanket, with unflushable toilets that overflowed
with putrefaction. My head throbbed. And I was beaten yet again -- and stabbed
in buttock muscles with syringes of massive over-size doses of prolyxin -- but
without the cogentin which is supposed to be given with the prolyxin because it
is necessary to counteract the extrapyramidal reactions that occur when the
prolyxin is administered alone -- which results in excruciatingly painful muscle
paralyses. One cannot so much as move a finger. Agony racks every body fiber.
The cerebral cortex of the brain is on
fire.
I couldn't get enough air. My
lungs refused to breathe deep. I thought I'd die of
suffocation.
As we lay on our
stomachs upon our metal bunks unable to turn over by ourselves -- the pressure
of the weight of our own torso upon the lungs was enough to kill us! And
prisoners had actually died that way. So the guards watched us writhe, unable to
breath, choking, retching, and made sure we suffered as much as possible without
passing out, before they came in and picked us up and turned us over on our
backs and left us struggling and gasping desperately for each breath. On
prolyxyn without cogentin a person cannot swallow. Occasionally a doctor came
along and extracted the phlegm from our throats with a suction device to keep us
from drowning. But they always let us choke a lot
first.
After receiving such a shot of
prolyxin sleep is impossible. One can only lay immobile and stare at the
ceiling. Electric lights were deliberately left on all night long to impact the
garish nightmare's maximum potential. The prolyxin's primary effect lasts
seventy-two hours -- but many weeks are necessary for full
recovery.
The guards called it the
punishment drug and laughed. It was
cruel.
Another method used by prison
authorities to squelch critics was to strap the person nude in a bathtub of ice
cubes -- where screaming was not
allowed.
Let me emphasize here once
more: "...where screaming was not allowed." Forgive me if I do not describe that
further. It is a terrible
memory....
The aforementioned horror is
an excerpt from Comporting Roadwise by RomTom, a recently published book from
Medicine Bow Gallery. RomTom's experiences and perspectives with the previous
military draft and the penalties for conscientious objection are
unparalleled.
Posted: Tue - June 1, 2004 at 08:44 PM