No Programs, Lack of Food, National Oppression While Awaiting Trial

Hello. First of all I love your newsletter. The principles you stand for and promote are outstanding. People coming together with the same interest in mind. The movement is real and I support it 100%.

Currently I am locked up in a county jail. If you have ever seen a picture of a cell in Alcatraz that’s exactly what mine looks like. We are treated very inhumane here, like we are on the rock.

I have been going to court for four months and have got absolutely nothing done. I just got a public defender. It is very difficult to even make phone calls because the tablets do not connect. So reaching out to lawyers, friends and family is very difficult. Visits are on the tablet as well so it gets cut off immediately and then they charge you a connection fee.

We (prisoners) all feel like starving dogs here. The meals are made for children. Today for lunch we got 1 BLT wrap with a bag of apple slices and some cranberry juice. That is all. Every day is a struggle just being hungry.

For rec they put us in a room with a cart of books from the 1970s. Nothing of quality or interesting. There is no recreation equipment in there. So it serves as a rec-room.

There is no AA or NA or any kind of programming here if you want to better yourself.

We just started getting church here. They put us in the same room and play Youtube on the TV for us to watch.

The canteen is expensive here. So if you don’t have money on your books, you’re going to bed with your stomach growling. I feel so bad seeing this so I give canteen to people who are hungry just to boost morale.

They change rules constantly without it being in writing. We are lied to every day by staff. It’s just a normal procedure here. It’s sad but it’s truth.

Some prisoners are held to a different set of rules here that I have never seen in my life.

I’m an enrolled Native American in a federally recognized tribe, Ho Chunk. The racism is real in this county, in the jail and courts. It’s very disappointing when my family members have fought in foreign countries for our rights on this soil and still racism exists. It’s very heart breaking and sad.

We also go through the censorship problems here which you mentioned in ULK 86. Can you send a list of banned books in Wisconsin?

If there is any way you can help us here at the county jail, it would very much be appreciated.

Thank you for your newspaper and the hope it gives us in here.