Give - or else (1 Viewer)

[mjp]

from Tamara Swerline
to bukowski.net
date Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 8:56 AM
subject Books

Would you consider donation Charles Bukowski works to our prison library? He's often requested and due to our state budget crisis my funds have been cut.

Thanks for consideration and love the website!

T. Swerline, Librarian II

 

[Ponder]

Post the address of the prison and I'll send some Buk.

 

[mjp]

I'm waiting for a reply, hopefully she will include the address.

 

[bospress.net]

Many prisons will only accept books from the publisher. All other books are destroyed or returned. I know that for prisoners, all reading material MUST be from the publisher. Maybe for the libraries it is different, but maybe not.

I had a prisoner send me a letter once asking for books to read while doing time. I sent him a bunch of books free only to have the entire package returned to me; refused by the prison. Seems that you may even have to be a big publisher. Small press does not seem to count. I understand that anyone can call themselves a publisher and then send their friends lsd laced books, sure.

So, maybe wait to see what the librarian says about donations from other readers who are not publishers. My gut feeling is that she thinks that she is e-mailing the publisher when she emailed buk.net.

Bill

 

[mjp]

I asked about rules and guidelines. It seems to be okay to send them:

"Oh it's prison... we have a lot of guidelines per se, at least as far as what the inmates can purchase. All reading materials purchased by the inmates are subject to review. It is a bit different for the librarians. We can have them until such time as they are 'excluded' and generally it concerns pornography issues."​

ASPC-Safford
Tamara Swerline, Librarian II
896 S Cook Road
Safford Arizona 85546

AND THANK YOU!!!

 

[bospress.net]

Yeah, those folks in Arizona need books. They get very hard time down there. A lot of these folks are in prison on simple possession charges (their real crime is being non-white and poor).

This from the Wikipedia page about this prison:
Amnesty International has singled out the prison as an example of human rights violations in US prisons. In an incident on August 1995 at the Graham Unit, 600 prisoners were "forced by guards to remain outdoors, handcuffed, for 96 hours, required to defecate and urinate in their clothes. Many suffered severe sunburn, heat exhaustion and dehydration in the intense heat."

It seems that the culture in Arizona is to degrade prisoners as a way of proving that you are "tough on crime." Sadly, this only makes prisoners more angry at the world and more dangerous when they are released. Joe Arpaio has made a career out of degrading and humiliating prisoners including making them wear all pink and making them sleep outside in 100+ degree weather (much hotter than that in the tents.)

Some crimes certainly deserve punishment, but taking an 18 year old kid and giving him 5 years of abuse and degradation is a surefire way to turn a petty criminal into a very angry and dangerous person. American prisons are great at creating monsters out of poor people who made a relatively minor mistake. Then they all complain and moan about this generation and their violence that they created.

Anyway, enough of my preaching.

Bill

 

[Bukfan]

Joe Arpaio has made a career out of degrading and humiliating prisoners including making them wear all pink and making them sleep outside in 100+ degree weather (much hotter than that in the tents.)

There's been several TV documentaries about Arpaio and his desert camps over here. If the prisoners wants electricity to read by,etc., then they have to take turns on some kinda bicycle which produces electricity. Some of the people there, are only there because they neglected to pay a small fine (maybe because they did'nt have the money). He also re-introduced the chain gang thing. Female prisoners apply to be part of the chain gangs, cleaning up street wearing black and white striped prison clothes, in order to get some privileges and to get released a tad quicker. Arpaio even brags about how little money he spends on food for the prisoners. That guy is an expert in humiliating and degrading people. The worst part is, people keep voting him in as Sheriff.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

I know most of you who post on here live in modern Utopian countries or states where there is little or no crime but I have been the victim of many crimes so I must side with the good sheriff. I do not believe they had prisoners standing in the hot sun shitting themselves or anything else that would be cruel and unusual. Let's face it most if not all convicted criminals had committed the same crimes before and got away with it or were let off as a first offender.
Meanwhile, back to the prisoners who need books to read.....If I have any extra books I will send them but I do not have a spare Bukowski title right now.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

I know most of you who post on here live in modern Utopian countries or states where there is little or no crime...

Gotta call bullshit on this. While I sympathize greatly with whatever crimes have been perpetrated against you and/or your family members and friends, to apply a broad brush in this way does neither yourself nor any of us any good or justice, to cite an appropriate word. As for your opinons on Sherriff Arpaio, you seem to base your support on your belief that he didn't do what has been documented. In this day and age, given the vehicles for both information and misinformation, I can understand that finding truth is more difficult than casting Tony Randall in a straight role, but common decency for prisoners seems to me to be a given right. Whether you've been the victim of a crime or not shouldn't matter. Decency is something that should be inherent. I'm not talking filet mignon and 200 cable TV channels, but the decency to poop in a pot doesn't seem unreasonable.

But, I don't know for sure that that right was absconded. You seem to know for sure that it wasn't.

 

[Bukfan]

The things I mentioned about Arpaio's tent camps was documented in the TV documentary. It was Arpaio himself who showed the TV crew the facilities (or lack thereof), such as the "do it yourself electricity bike". He also showed them the chain gang program for female prisoners, the pink prison clothes male prisoners has to wear in order to humiliate them, and how he saved the state a lot of money by buying cheap food for the prisoners. It was also documented that many of the prisoners where petty criminals, fine dodgers, dopers, etc.
I don't think there were any hard core criminals there because they would be in maximum security prisons, not in a fenced-in tent camp in the desert.
As I see it, we put criminals in prison in order to take away their freedom for a certain amount of time. That's their punishment. It's not part of their punishment to be humiliated or degraded in any way (what good will come of that?). Of course, the Arpaio's of the world see it differently.

 

[bospress.net]

Humiliating non-violent criminals does us ALL a disservice as it makes them much more dangerous once they are released. If you take a non-violent criminal and put him in prison, but educate him and treat him with some basic decency, then you will have a much better chance that he will not become a violent re-offender. They call it "corrections", but that is a laughable mis-representation of what it is. The system is set up to virtually guarantee that most people will re-offend.

Apraio is proud of what he does as it makes him feel like a real man. The weakest always need someone weaker than them to humiliate and degrade. I would not have as much of an issue if the majority of people in US prisons were violent offenders. The vast majority are non-violent drug charges and the vast majority are black. White kids get probation and community service while black and brown kids get prison time.

 

[zenguru]

One of the things that struck me about Arpaio was the tour through the tent city. He read a temperature of 104 degrees and called it a really good time to be in prison. Because it's usually hotter than that for most of the year.

 

[Ponder]

Why has this Arpaio fellow not been arrested yet?

 

[bospress.net]

...because he is the law and the law is exempt from the law.

That being said, abusing prisoners is not illegal.

Bill

 

[Bukfan]

That being said, abusing prisoners is not illegal.

Unfortunately not, and neither is "extreme rendition" and torture. It even applies to innocent people:

http://www.truth-out.org/bush-obama-wiki-and-cia67188
(scroll down to the German Khalid El-Masri case)

 

[Stavrogin]

Poor Gerard, all alone in this maelstrom of how criminals are so poorly treated. I'm afraid to burst bubbles but it is illegal to mistreat prisoners and there are many checks and balances in place to curtail abuse of prisoners by those in authority. Prisoners have hotlines to internal affairs, there's auxiliary staff they can confer with (assigned counselors), grievance procedures that are examined by independent boards, cameras set up throughout prison areas, etc. This is present day reality. I suppose you can watch a movie that sensationalizes inmate abuse and have a different take. What the military does at places like Guantánamo is a different issue. Arpaio gets away with what he does because there is this perception in the States that we are soft on crime (we are) and if he deals harshly with gateway criminals they may think twice before committing further unlawful acts. The whole brown and black types getting prison time while whites don't is a false assumption, also. Has nothing to do with skin color. It's money and culture. I wasn't going to comment in this thread for the simple fact it's like talking religion or politics. I'm not going to convince you that the side of the dog I'm facing is black when the side your facing is white. I've worked in the prison system for years - both adult and juvenile - and perhaps I'm jaded. I've seen those that have fucked a five year old in the ass and mutilated her genitals get released back on to the streets. The person filling his bed is in for growing pot.

 

[Hindinwood]

Some crimes certainly deserve punishment, but taking an 18 year old kid and giving him 5 years of abuse and degradation is a surefire way to turn a petty criminal into a very angry and dangerous person. American prisons are great at creating monsters out of poor people who made a relatively minor mistake. Then they all complain and moan about this generation and their violence that they created.

This is definitely true! Anyone in doubt should read a well-researched book about Bonnie and Clyde. It really illustrates this phenomenon with heartbreaking clarity.

 

[mjp]

If this Arapaho or Arpeggio or whatever his name is was locking up politicians (not some of them, all of them) and the heads of the big investment banks and insurance companies and making them work out in the Arizona sun in pink jumpsuits without water, we'd probably all be hailing him as the savior of society. Unfortunately, all the wrong people are in prison, but that is never, ever going to change. Never. And you know it's never going to change. So now what?

I'm not particularly into torturing or executing people for no reason, but honestly, if you dropped a bomb on the Los Angeles County jail, the city would be better off. Much better off. Then we could rebuild the jail, fill it up again, and drop another bomb on it. Repeat as necessary. Anyone who thinks I'm kidding, or that we're being "too hard" on the poor unfortunate bastards should go live with them for a few days. With the doors locked behind you.

I'm not talking about the guys in there for selling herb or crack or whatever date-rape drug all the cool kids are taking this year. I'm talking about the fuckers who would maim or kill you for a pocketful of that stuff (or the $31 you made selling it) and not give it a second thought. Please tell me how we rehabilitate them. They are broken beyond repair. Yes, I blame the system and our society for that, not the broken people. But the system is not going to change, and here we are in a world full of the monsters that system has created.

So now what?

Send them a few books I guess.

That's what I'm going to do, because I sympathize with prisoners. I would rather most of them were sent to Siberia to freeze or were vaporized with one of the LA County jail bombs, but while they're alive, I feel bad for them. They are victims, we are victims, and meanwhile - as always throughout history - the real criminals are laughing at us as we argue with each other over which one of them to vote for. As if it matters. I can see why they laugh.

 

[chronic]

... honestly, if you dropped a bomb on the Los Angeles County jail, the city would be better off. Much better off...

Except that it would probably take out Phillipe's with it, and that would be a bad thing. They're practically across the street from each other... and what would life be like without french dips and their killer hot mustard?

 

[Gerard K H Love]

If any prisoner in the United States were abused the warden and the prison would be sued because the U.S. has a surplus of lawyers. No one would get away with any abuse of a prisoner certainly not Joe Arpaio there is just too much money or fame to be made by going after them.

Plus or TV news media needs the ratings.

 

[Bukfan]

As for Arpaio, the documentaries and and Arpaio's own words speaks for themselves.
As for the really dangerous criminals, they're probably in maximum security prisons and not in Arpaio's tent camp.
As for humiliation and degradation of prisoners, I don't think that helps in discouraging people from committing new crimes, but that's a matter of opinion, of course. I would like to see some statistics on that.

 

[reasonknot]

meanwhile, most so called normal people continue to support the A holes in swivel chairs , at the grocery stores, gas pumps, and voting booths. Not to mention the news broadcasts, the public schools, the churches, and the fast food joints across the land.
Is there any wonder that the rich get richer and the poor, more content?

 

[chronic]

You think the poor are getting more content? Really?

 

[mjp]

Except that it would probably take out Phillipe's with it, and that would be a bad thing. They're practically across the street from each other... and what would life be like without french dips and their killer hot mustard?

Good point. Carol and I were just at Phillipe's on Friday, and I still have a stash of the mustard in the refrigerator. I'm thinking that we could use one of Reagan's smart bombs - a neutron bomb, and spare Phillipe's (and the post office). That should work.

But you're right, blowing it up might not be the most efficient way to deal with the problem.

 

[chronic]

Maybe put a big tent over it and call in a pest control company.

 

[reasonknot]

You think the poor are getting more content? Really?

go to the grocery store and watch what people buy. especially in the meat dept. Or go to a corporate McDonalds and just sit in the parking lot and people watch for a while. not exactly anarchy if you ask me. I mean, folks might honk their horns in traffic sometimes , or bitch about shit all the time to their spouses in their dumb little paddocks, but do you think they have a fucking clue who Michael Pollen is? do you think they have a clue about the owners of the utility company? Do you think they are going to boycott the city water co.? Exactly. I would say the majority of poor to middle class folks in the U.S.A. are content.

 

[chronic]

I don't get the connection between what meats people are buying in the grocery store and whether they're contented or not, and the fact that people aren't rioting in the streets says more about the fact that enough people are still comfortable and secure enough that they don't think about the poor much. Maybe we just have different concepts of what qualifies as "poor."

I'd say Thoreau's "quiet desperation" better describes how poor people are dealing with these times than "contented."

 

[mjp]

do you think they have a fucking clue who Michael Pollen is?

Pollen makes me sneeze, so fuck that guy, whoever he is.

Good luck boycotting city water (you can easily do that you know - just stop paying your bill), and putting up those solar panels. Let us know how that goes.

You confuse apathy and resignation with contentment. If a tree falls on your shack are you going to protest the tree? Boycott shade? You seem to be suggesting that if people bought broccoli (or kale) instead of hamburger they would be more feisty and resistant to the man. I suppose if you didn't have running water or electricity you would be more of an activist. A smelly activist, but then most of them are already pretty smelly.

If you want to change the system, it's easy. Just become a federal judge, and then get a few thousand people who agree with your views to become judges as well. Once you've done that, get 10 or 20 thousand people who agree with you elected to public office. Then you can change the system. Nothing to it.

Of course the other couple hundred million people who disagree with you will then create the anarchy you dream of, and things will change back. But you'll have made your point.

 

[reasonknot]

I don't get the connection between what meats people are buying in the grocery store and whether they're contented or not, and the fact that people aren't rioting in the streets says more about the fact that enough people are still comfortable and secure enough that they don't think about the poor much. Maybe we just have different concepts of what qualifies as "poor."

I'd say Thoreau's "quiet desperation" better describes how poor people are dealing with these times than "contented."

just stop buying meat from the u.s.d.a....and support small printing press companies... Obama will fix the rest. ( I need to go boil some water so I can shave.)

 

[Gerard K H Love]

Do you actually dip your face into the pot while the water is boiling or are you shaving your legs?

 

[reasonknot]

come on over and I'll show you. Fuckin water heater broke that was replaced 6 years ago and there is barely any extra money for anything at this time of year. Life is a bitch but i keep a positive outlook for the future to keep from loosing my mind.