MOBILE PRISON TORTURE EXHIBIT
The following is an update of the Control Unit Exhibit proposal in the Summer 1999 NCX.
Most Americans do not know that the United States locks up men and women in closet-tight, solitary confine-ment Control Units where the isolation and sensory deprivation can drive prisoners mad. Additionally, other tortures take place in this hidden world because no one knows or cares what goes on. Mainstream media fails to focus on these conditions at the very time when "supermax" prisons are proliferating across the country. To fill them, more people are convicted of nonviolent offenses and serve longer and longer sentences.
Clearly, prison legislation is needed to halt this nation's embrace of repressive and cruel policies toward inmates. A method must be found to shake up the public, force mainstream media to pay attention, and ultimately bring to pass the needed changes.
Imagine a large bus or cargo trailer, rolling down the highway with a big colorful sign reading "Control Unit Exhibit." The vehicle has been refitted to contain a prison Control Unit and storage space for bulletin boards, art by Control Unit prisoners, and a table for distributing information. Volunteers or paid persons drive the mobile exhibit to state and county fairs, conventions, or any other available site to inform communities about what goes on in American prisons.
At the selected site, the exhibit greets crowds with a big sign. In front of the bus, visitors are shocked to see a prisoner-mannequin tied down on a table by five-point body restraints, left for hours in that immobile position. Inside the exhibit is the Control Unit, the size of a small bathroom, its walls and ceiling painted to resemble concrete. In such a box, a prisoner must live without any human contact. The cell contains an actual Control Unit toilet, sink, bunk, and cameras focused on the prisoner 24 hours a day. The walls are bare, and there are no windows. Viewing this house of horrors, the visitor can feel the claustrophobic, maddening terror of isolation and sensory deprivation that engulfs thousands of prisoners in such places.
Visitors will leave the exhibit shaken, knowing that no one is immune from such treatment for any alleged offense. Furthermore, the exhibit's message and obvious photo opportunities are just what is needed to attract mainstream media and lead to follow-up reporting. Even one coverage in the evening news can lead to commentary by criminologists, psychologists, human rights groups, and families of the tortured, as well as the reshowing of pertinent documentaries.
The Control Unit Exhibit may include additional displays spotlighting other forms of torture and all violations of human rights that currently prevail in US prisons, including the death penalty. Related nonprofit groups and organizations are invited to join the project.
GETTING STARTED
A prototype Control Unit fitted inside a standard cargo trailer will be built in the Western United States and the fixtures installed. To complement this project, Control Unit exhibits are also needed on the East Coast (New York) and in the Midwest (Chicago). The same trailer and fixtures can also be replicated anywhere in Europe.
Grant and donation checks for this endeavor can now be accepted. Several thousand dollars in cash are already on deposit with the nonprofit Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), <ifco@igc.apc.org>, Ph. (212) 926-5757, Fax (212) 926-5842. Make checks payable to "IFCO/Mobile Prison Torture Exhibit."They will then be tax-exempt for a donating organization and tax-deductible for an individual donor. Send to IFCO, 402 West 145th Street, New York, NY 10031.
To join this project , contact Millie Barnet, Director, Western Division, <mbarne@sonic.net>, (707) 546-0778, 523 Goodman Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95407.