I've been going to places recently that I'd normally avoid. Hard, clinical and brightly lit places for humans who are widely viewed as "less-than." One is for men without documents whose detention results in massive profits for the corporation that controls them. The other is for women who have simply run afoul of the justice system. Both are in rural areas, the former in poverty-stricken Stewart County, Georgia, the latter in fast-growing Lee County, Alabama, home of Auburn University.
I first saw the for-profit Stewart Detention Center last November during a rally, march and vigil that coincides with the annual School of the Americas Watch protest. Taking advantage of the huge influx of SOAW activists into SW Georgia, religious and civil liberties groups have steadily built awareness of this insulting facility and the moral implications of supplying humans to a profit-driven enterprise. As a result, this crowd was more than double (270+) last year's turnout.
We rallied at the gates of Stewart, owned by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private jailer in the world, and were greeted by scores of Georgia State troopers, County Sheriff's deputies and a sketchy-looking group wearing the colors of CCA. Speakers included Emily Guzman whose husband, Pedro, was locked up (improperly) last year. He described conditions "made to break your soul." By now, civil disobedience has become a tradition at these gates, and veteran prisoner of conscience,Chris Spicer, crossed the line to be arrested. After almost everyone had left to walk back into Lumpkin, Anton Flores, the organizer of the day's events, was arrested in a cheesy effort at intimidation after he reached across the gate to retrieve Chris' jacket. He was later released because of the clear video evidence gathered by the media. The local Police Department, by contrast, maintained a professional and neutral posture.
Theresa Cusimano made the decision to offer herself up to the state when she realized that 2011 would be the first time in 21 years that no one became a prisoner of concience in protest of our training a never-ending supply of thugs to kill and tyrannize humans in Latin America. Theresa kept the tradition of exemplary sacrifice alive by scaling a ladder to cross over into Federal land.
As a resident of Columbus, GA, it's hard to imagine being sentenced to 6 months for going into what is normally an open Army post that employs thousands of civilians and hosts thousands of proud parents for various graduations and ceremonies every year. But when SOAW comes to town, nothing is normal, including everyones' civil liberties. The senseless roadblocks around town have been discontinued, and the city's insistence (affirmed by the local Federal Judge Clay Land) on "wanding" every single one of tens of thousands of pacifists for dangerous metal weapons was overturned on appeal. Still, in order for these deeply devout and dissident Christians (who are heavily Catholic) to carry the preeminent symbol of their faith to the Solemn Processional, the Cross must (by order of the CPD) conform to miniature dimensions to prevent their use as weapons in one of the many street battles we've never had. No U.S. flags (on poles) for the same reason. The irony is that Columbus is a lavishly religious and patriotic town with a church on every other corner. However, most of the flags fly over car lots as a testament to the owners' love of country/customers. And the churches remain a safe harbor for war-mongering, gay-hating, misogynistic bigots who are confident of redemption and "prosperity." Our local Federal Magistrates have a tradition of handing down the maximum six-month sentence for misdemenor trespassing on Federal land. This is in keeping with the community's overwhelming belief in the near sanctity of the military. The protestors are aware of this, so it takes a high level of committment to proceed with surrendering to their conscience. This is how Theresa Cusimano found herself in the unheated confines of the W.S. "Buck" Jones Detention Center among those struggling with meth addiction, mental illness and other women who may fairly be described as being 'poor in spirit'.
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