Hi PTO friends,

I'm back home! I was released on Friday morning from the Danbury camp.

For the most part, it was a good experience. I was there for 90 days. The ladies there were very kind to me. They didn't shy away from me because I had such a short sentence. Some of them didn't understand why I was sent to prison when the charge was just a B misdemeanor. They all knew that I was a protester.

"Are you going to protest again?" I was asked.

"Of course," I said.

"Haha, you're coming back. We'll be here to welcome you" was the inevitable response.

I just smiled.

My "counselor" asked me, "When are you leaving?"

"July 2."

"When are you coming back?"

"July 3."

Laughter from both parties. He didn't believe that I was going to return the day after I was released, and, sure enough, I didn't. He was convinced that, at some point in the future, I will make a return trip. Maybe yes, maybe no.

The future is a mystery. I have no regrets about the protest that I did that resulted in my being sent to Danbury for 90 days.

Being there was kind of boring. I had to amuse myself. I read a lot and crocheted and spent a lot of time on the track. I went to yoga classes and religious services. For some reason, I completely lost interest in television.

I can't say that I was especially well behaved. I was just... well... me. My first boss (in education) didn't like me or anyone else very much. He was very rude. He yelled and used foul language and threatened the students. I became quite offended and asked him to fire me. He refused. Finally, I couldn't put up with his abusing the students so I went "on strike." He gave me a shot and had me sent to the SHU. That was quite an experience. I wish that someone had taken a picture of me all decked out in orange. I looked like a gigantic pumpkin. Even my SHU shoes were orange (and two sizes too small). I was let out of the SHU after just one night.

The evil teacher fired me after I got out of the SHU. I worked on grounds maintenance after that. Even that boss was kind of crazy. One day, he completely went berserk. He yelled so loud that he could have awakened the dead in cemeteries. He grabbed ahold of a weed whacker and made this wild madman demonstration of the proper usage of a weed whacker. He shouted to one woman to drop the gas can that she was holding. She did so and all of the gas came out of the can.

The re-enactments of the boss' foray into insanity began as soon as he left the scene. They were actually pretty funny.

So I have plenty of stories... and I'm available to answer questions.

Thank you for your support. I am so grateful. The information that I gathered from this site really helped me a lot during my time in federal prison.

alice (meowmachine)

Welcome home...meow. I suppose those instructors [perhaps former drill instructors] are so used to yelling and screaming that they don't realize how maniacal they appear. I look forward to more of your recollections.

Welcome home! And yes, please more stories!!! I've heard that yelling and screaming is part of the CO training program!!!

I am sure that these folks don't realize that they come across as complete lunatics. They have probably been behaving like that for quite some time. If that teacher had said even half of the things that he uttered in a public school, parents would have been screaming about child abuse.

I kept a journal while I was in prison and I had my parents save all of the letters that I wrote to them. So I have plenty of stories to share.

In a little while, I'm going to read and go to bed... because, well, I'm not used to staying up late anymore. I got up early every morning to watch the sun rise and walk the track while it was still quiet.

alice

Welcome home! And yes, please more stories!!! I've heard that yelling and screaming is part of the CO training program!!!

Hee hee, I wouldn't be surprised. They are probably required to practice for a certain amount of time each day... sort of like how music teachers require their students to practice on their instruments. I don't know how they would explain to the police officers responding to the neighbors' calls to 911 why they were making that infernal racket... but perhaps they had a screaming range, sort of like a firing range. It would keep them from having to practice at home.

I had a good time making fun of CO's and even wrote a "CO Employment Application," which included such questions as "Are you rude?" and "How loud can you yell?"

Well... I'll write more stories tomorrow.

Thank you for the welcome back. I will always be grateful to have found PTO.

alice

Welcome home meow!!!!!!!! Seems just like yesterday that you left!! Glad to have you back!!

Opps....I didn't see this post...and just started another Welcome Home for you!

I can't wait to hear your stories...I am looking forward to it!

Welcome Back Alice! Good to see You!

Hey, I miss the old protests from the Viet Nam era!! I still have my ex's "H@ll No I won't GO!!!" sign! Since they are talking about the draft I gave it to my son, who has already stated he won't go - quite emphatically!

Next protest tell me where and when and I am there!

Really, it is great to see you back, and I look forward to reading more of your stories.

Patti

Welcome back !!!:)

Alice- just found your post about being back- welcome back and please more stories and entries from your journal - I am sure your sense of humor helped so much during your stay.

I find it only fitting to move Alice's "I'm Home" post to our new sub-forum!

Alice...I'm so glad your back!

Welcome home, Alice! Glad to have you back with us! :)

Welcome home. I am so glad you are safe.

Sheryl

Welcome home lady! Sounds like you managed to find some good people in there

Welcome Home!!!!!

It's always good to hear from someone who's been through all of this recently. Just curious, was there a lot of talk about Martha comming?

Glad your back!

welcome back. danbury, CT? you just missed martha! I hope you do not go back there. i can't believe you did time for protesting. i thought that was freedom of speech!

Yes, everyone made wisecracks about Martha. It was good fun for us at Danbury FPC. I kept waiting for Martha. When I was sent to seg, I was hoping to find Martha waiting there for me, to help me accessorize that bright orange costume. Alas, no Martha, just me in a little cage.

I made lots of friends in Danbury. It was good for me. Oddly enough, I came home with a need to chase dust bunnies. In Danbury, we had weekly room inspections. The cleaning supplies were... well... primitive...

About the protest... yes, I was sent to prison for protesting. The government took exception to the fact that the protest was on a military base. I took exception to the fact that the government is running a military training school for Latin American troops so that they can learn combat techniques... and less pleasant things. The school is still in operation and is called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly School of the Americas). There was a bill before Congress to close it, HR 1285, but, unfortunately, it didn't get enough co-sponsors for the sponsor, Rep. McGovern, to bring it to the house floor for a vote this year. In fact, about a week and a half before I reported to prison, I went to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress to suport HR 1285.

As for not doing a repeat of the activity that got me sent to Danbury... well, I don't know... there is plenty of evidence that the school has trained assassins and that there was instruction in torture at the school... and I had been friends with a young missionary nun two years before she was brutally tortured in Guatemala... and SOA graduates were implicated in that crime... but no one was ever punished.

When I read my friend's book, I was heartbroken. I had terrible nightmares.... and I cried for weeks... almost nonstop...

.... I had to do something....

... I'm not ready to stop now. The government must take responsibility for its actions... torture is unacceptable...

... I'm perfectly OK with accepting the consequences of forcing the issue because I don't want any part of a government that accepts cruelty as a part of enforcing its foreign policy.

Sigh. I'll get off of my soap box.

alice

Welcome back and I'm glad you survived and that they weren't able to break you.... Stay strong and know that there are many of us who don't agree with things our government is doing... ((hugs))

Deb

Hi Deb and Sheryl and Diane and everyone else...

Thank you so much for all of the support. It means so much to me.

Well... time for bed... would you believe that I've been called in for jury duty????

alice

Welcome HOme!! Glad to see you back with us!

I am so happy to be back with this group. You have been so kind and supportive to me... and I couldn't be more grateful...

This is an awesome support group. I feel so fortunate to have found it.

love,
alice

what really gives me hope and lightens my mood as I also face time - is how spunky and fiesty you seem.... Thank god they didn't get your spirit, or break you down, or leave you in some little pile of rubble all depressed. I am so relieved that you are home and ready to move on with your life.

Can you tell me, what kind of supervised release term will you have?

Thanks,
Sheryl

Welcome Home!!!

]what really gives me hope and lightens my mood as I also face time - is how spunky and fiesty you seem.... Thank god they didn't get your spirit, or break you down, or leave you in some little pile of rubble all depressed. I am so relieved that you are home and ready to move on with your life.

Oh, no, not depressed at all... I am happy to move on with my life... but still remembering and writing to my friends that I made in Danbury... and still focused on my big issue with the government... or two or three issues...:p

Can you tell me, what kind of supervised release term will you have?

Thanks,
Sheryl

No supervised release at all for me... because the charge against me was a class B misdemeanor, the judge did not have the option of sentencing me to both prison and probation. If it had been a class A misdemeanor, that would have been an option for him.

I am simply turned loose on full-term release...

alice:D

You are my new hero. I've always been a political activist myself and consider my "crime" to be one of political activism as well (though not in what you may think of as the traditional sense). Either way I wish you the best in the future! Please at least stay out long enough to cast your vote in November.

You are my new hero. I've always been a political activist myself and consider my "crime" to be one of political activism as well (though not in what you may think of as the traditional sense). Either way I wish you the best in the future! Please at least stay out long enough to cast your vote in November.

Thank you so much for such a kind note! That meant so much to me! I will make sure to vote in November!

You have my support, too. Political activism comes in many varieties. I wish you the best, always.

alice

:) Welcome Home :)

Welcome Home Meow!

Welcome Home Meow!
Thank you very much.

I like your dragon picture.

I am going back to Danbury on March 15 for six months for repeating my protest. Considering the events of the past week, especially in Colombia and Haiti, I have no doubt that I needed to do that protest.

alice

Beware the Ides indeed...You are a hero for sure. I hope you can turn all this into a book!

Thank you very much.

I like your dragon picture.

I am going back to Danbury on March 15 for six months for repeating my protest. Considering the events of the past week, especially in Colombia and Haiti, I have no doubt that I needed to do that protest.

alice
Ohhhhh Meow you just got back and will be leaving again!:( Well the one thing that sets you above is you are woman direct and true to her convictions! I too have served a little time and paid many MANY fines because I am a rebel with a constant cause; although I have never protested hard as you, but I am getting ready too!!!! We have a very racist couple in our neighborhood who is making trouble for all the non white/caucasion folks and even though I am half Italian and Half Cherokee my honey is Hispanic and so are my children. I am sooooo tired of all the dischord this woman and her husband have caused I and many others, but I will not fall prey via childish actions as they, so Monday I am off to see my lawyers first and then off to the courthouse. I already have printed flyers and hung them in our neighborhood warning about this racist couple and the things they do to cause trouble. I've also started a petition; this is where my smarts come into play ;) , that they have become a harm to themselves and need to be placed in Assisted Living/Nursing Home Care. I already have 50 signatures in one day! Oh, and last but not least I have set a microphone up outside my window that will record them during the day entreating people in the neighborhood by calling out N****, F***** Mex. PR. Dom. Cub and etc. and saying we are all filth and drug dealers! I am sooooooo done with this woman and her husband!

Well Meow take care and remember we are all behind you!

HUGS
~Nikki~

Ohhhhh Meow you just got back and will be leaving again!:( Well the one thing that sets you above is you are woman direct and true to her convictions! I too have served a little time and paid many MANY fines because I am a rebel with a constant cause; although I have never protested hard as you, but I am getting ready too!!!! We have a very racist couple in our neighborhood who is making trouble for all the non white/caucasion folks and even though I am half Italian and Half Cherokee my honey is Hispanic and so are my children. I am sooooo tired of all the dischord this woman and her husband have caused I and many others, but I will not fall prey via childish actions as they, so Monday I am off to see my lawyers first and then off to the courthouse. I already have printed flyers and hung them in our neighborhood warning about this racist couple and the things they do to cause trouble. I've also started a petition; this is where my smarts come into play ;) , that they have become a harm to themselves and need to be placed in Assisted Living/Nursing Home Care. I already have 50 signatures in one day! Oh, and last but not least I have set a microphone up outside my window that will record them during the day entreating people in the neighborhood by calling out N****, F***** Mex. PR. Dom. Cub and etc. and saying we are all filth and drug dealers! I am sooooooo done with this woman and her husband!

Well Meow take care and remember we are all behind you!

HUGS
~Nikki~
Hi Nikki,
That is terrible! There is no excuse for prejudice, ever! This couple sounds like people who are out of control and they do need to take responsibility for their behavior. Since it's not likely that they are about to realize that their behavior is unacceptable, it's a good thing that you are documenting it for your lawyers.

I support you 100 percent! If we were living in the same city, I would write an article about your situation for the alternative newspaper that I edit!

And... also... I am so grateful for your support... as well as for the support of my friends here at PTO!
alice