Prison Issues.
El Sapato
Marcos Eduardo Vigil C36354, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA
Since my arrival to Pelican Bay State Prison sapato (SHU),
not much has changed from one and a half years ago when I first stepped
through the front door of this immense bunker-like prison complex. But though
my once brown skin has since turned a lighter shade of pale, I remain for
the most part unmoved by the psychological effects that this place cultivates
in the mentally unstable.
I simply continue as if I were not deprived of direct sunlight or of the
opportunity to work and improve my footing inside this nether realm where
I must live for an indeterminate time like many of my camaradas (Mexicano-Chicanos)
who numerically dominate behind these cell fronts of perforated steel-cut
off from our familias and outside human contact.
We live in spite of the lack of environmental stimulation, through the ass-kickings,
as well as the psychological violence that is so much a part of our everyday
lives, doing what one does to somehow transcend the walls of this edifice
so as not to be defeated by a system which seeks only to crush our spirit,
to break us down one by one-in short, to bury us alive and stomp us to pieces.
Forced to reinvent ourselves and become whole again or go down trying, we
must not give up and crumble. Our captors expect us to forsake everything
we stand for-our morals and principles-and jump at the dangled carrot they
call a mainline, so they can further tighten their stranglehold and divide
us. But we must not allow the system to defeat our physical and mental resolve.
Because we are caged does not mean we should act like a deranged lunatic
the moment our cell door opens, or that when our cell door is locked we
should lie down and sleep our sentences away. The panoply of a warrior is
to cultivate within himself an armory of tools to combat any enemy on any
field of battle, not just physical enemies but those who seek to change
our psychological makeup.
Pelican Bay and places like it should not render us hopeless or trigger
our mental downfall. Time utilized wisely can be the difference between
dwelling in a mental state of heaven or living in our own isolated hell.
Tonehuiztica tipano Ipan inin tlaticpactli Nooti tlami nochi
pano que mextli ca ilhuicactli
In this life fate gives us Bitterness for bread All delight, all sweetness
Die when we are dead